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A suitable model to investigate the regeneration of transplanted hepatocytes
Author(s) -
Itagaki Hiroko,
Kitahara Shuji,
Ezaki Taichi
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.868.3
Subject(s) - immunostaining , transplantation , regeneration (biology) , hepatocyte , pathology , zebrafish , liver transplantation , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , immunohistochemistry , anatomy , andrology , in vitro , medicine , biochemistry , gene
Aim To seek for a suitable site for isolated hepatocytes to proliferate with a high reliability, we established a mouse transplantation model and morphologically characterized the regeneration of transplanted ectopic hepatocytes. Materials & Methods Adult male C57BL/6 mice were used as hepatocyte donors and hepatocytes were transplanted into mesenteric fat pads of C57BL/6‐Tg (CAG‐GFP) mice as recipients. At various times after transplantation of isolated hepatocytes (1.5×10 7 cells per site), mice were sacrificed and cryosections were made. Multiple‐immunostaining of various markers was employed for the 3‐dimentional imaging by the confocal laser‐scanning microscopy. Results & Discussion Three weeks after transplantation, the transplanted hepatocytes vigorously regenerated to cell masses raging from 350μm to 2500μm in diameter. They are also acoompanied by the development of hepatic sinusoids of donor origin. The endotherial and type‐IV collagen linings of the sinusoids were comparable to those of the normal liver. Comparing with other transplantation sites, this model, therefore, provides a useful tool to investigate the regeneration of the liver structure and function after transplantation.