将脐带间充质干细胞诱导分化为肝细胞

Objective: Mesenchymal stem cells derived from umbilical cord (UC-MSCs) were induced to differentiate into hepatocytes to study their hepatic differentiation potential and provide the basis for their use in liver tissue engineering. Methods: UC-MSCs were induced to differentiate into adipocytes and osteoblasts to confirm their multipotent differentiation potential. UC-MSCs were induced to differentiate into hepatocytes with HGF and FGF-4. Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining was performed to detect glycogen storage capacity of the differentiated cells. The differentiated cells were examined for the expression of hepatocyte-specific genes ALB, AFP and CK-18 by real-time RT-PCR. Results: UC-MSCs were induced to differentiate into adipocytes and osteoblasts. PAS staining showed that hepatocytes differentiated from UC-MSCs had the ability of the glycogen storage. Real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that hepatocytes differentiated from UC-MSCs expressed the hapatocyte-specific genes ALB, AFP and CK-18. Conclusion: UC-MSCs can be induced to differentiate into adipocytes and osteoblasts, demonstrating that they have multipotent differentiation potential. HGF and FGF-4 can induce UC-MSCs to differentiate into hepatocytes, which may be used in liver tissue engineering.