Abstract:

BACKGROUND: The study of the induction of differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) into hepatocyte-like cells majorly concentrates on the induction of different inducing factors, and pays little attention on the induction of micro environment.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the differentiation of rat BMSCs into hepatocyte-like cells.
METHODS: The rats BMSCs were isolated by density gradient centrifugation and purified by adherence cultivation, morphology feature of BMSCs were observed by microscope. The fetal liver cells were isolated by adherence cultivation after digesting the rats embryo liver of 3 weeks with collagenase. The negative control group was cultured in L-DMEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum. The purified BMSCs in the induced group were cultured in L-DMEM containing 10% fetal bovine serum with hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and fetal liver cells.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with those in non-induced BMSCs, the levels of alpha-fetoprotein and albumin in the induced-BMSCs were higher (P < 0.01). Both glycogen and CK-18 were positive in the induced BMSCs. BMSCs can differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells with hepatic phenotype and function in the presence of HGF and fetal liver cells, which may be used as a kind of cell resources to treat severe hepatic disease.