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The generation of hepatocytes from mesenchymal stem cells and engraftment into murine liver

Nature Protocols volume 5, pages 617–627 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Donor organ shortage is still the major obstacle for the clinical application of hepatocyte transplantation in the treatment of liver diseases. However, generation of hepatocyte-like cells from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has become a real alternative to the isolation of primary hepatocytes. MSCs are extracted from the tissue by collagenase digestion and enriched by their capacity to grow on plastic surfaces. Enriched cells display distinct mesenchymal surface markers and are capable of multiple lineage differentiation. In the presence of specific growth conditions, the cells adopt functional features of differentiated hepatocytes. After orthotopic transplantation, differentiated human stem cells engraft in the host liver parenchyma of immunocompromized mice. This protocol describes the in vitro differentiation of stem cells from human bone marrow and their transplantation into livers of immunodeficient mice. The cell culture procedures take about 4–5 weeks, and cells engrafted in the mouse liver may be detected 2–3 months after transplantation.

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Figure 1: Characterization of hepatocyte-specific functions in differentiated MSCs.
Figure 2: Characterization of hepatocyte-specific marker protein expression in differentiated MSCs using western blots.
Figure 3: Cell transplantation into the mouse liver.
Figure 4: Immunohistochemical detection of human hepatocyte-like cells in the mouse liver 10 weeks after transplantation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by The German Ministry of Education and Research (NBL3-NG4 and BMBF, PtJ-Bio, 0313909, 1106SF), as well as by the German Research Council (Ch 109/15-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. First Department of Medicine, Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Heinrich-Damerow-Straße 1, Halle/Saale, D-06120, Germany

    Peggy Stock, Sandra Brückner, Sabine Ebensing, Madlen Hempel, Matthias M Dollinger & Bruno Christ

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  1. Peggy Stock
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Contributions

P.S. executed experiments and wrote the manuscript. S.B. executed experiments and wrote the manuscript. S.E. performed cell cultures and histochemical procedures. M.H. performed all biochemical analyses. M.M.D. discussed and designed experiments and wrote the manuscript. B.C. is the project leader and corresponding author, designed and supervised experiments and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bruno Christ.

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*Dedicated to Konstantin H. Christ on the occasion of his 27th anniversary.

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Stock, P., Brückner, S., Ebensing, S. et al. The generation of hepatocytes from mesenchymal stem cells and engraftment into murine liver. Nat Protoc 5, 617–627 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2010.7

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