Differentiation of a hepatic phenotype after heterotropic transplantation of heart, kidney, brain, and skin tissues into liver in F344 rats.
While organ-specific stem cells with roles in tissue injury repair have been documented, their pathogenic significance in diseases and the factors potentially responsible for their activation remain largely unclear. In the present study, heart, kidney, brain, and skin samples from F344 transgenic rats carrying the GFP gene were transplanted into normal F344 rat liver one day after an intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) of carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) to test their differentiation capacity. The transplantation was carried out by female donors to male recipients, and vice versa. One week after transplantation, GFP antigen-positive cells with phenotypic characteristics of hepatocytes were noted. After two weeks, their extent increased, and at 4 weeks, large areas of strongly GFP-stained cells developed. All recipient livers had GFP antigen-positive hepatocyte cells. PCR analysis coupled with laser capture micro-dissection (LCM) revealed those cells to contain GFP DNA. Thus, our results indicate that tissue stem cells have multipotential ability, differentiating into hepatocytes when transplanted into an injured liver.
Watanabe
Hiromitsu
H
Department of Experimental Oncology, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan. tonko@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Ochiya
Takahiro
T
Ueda
Shinobu
S
Kominami
Yoko
Y
Gon
Rina
R
Nishiki
Masayo
M
Hayashi
Masaomi
M
Sasaki
Atsushi
A
Shiraishi
Miho
M
Kashimoto
Naoki
N
Myojin
Yuki
Y
Kamiya
Kenji
K
D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D016380:Brain Tissue Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D002252:Carbon Tetrachloride Poisoning / Q000503:physiopathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D008099:Liver / Q000502:physiology*; D008115:Liver Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D016042:Transplantation, Heterotopic
C485184:enhanced green fluorescent protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins