title: The dog liver contains a "side population" of cells with hepatic progenitor-like characteristics.
abstract: The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize potential progenitor cells from healthy dog livers. Stem/progenitor cells can be prospectively isolated from a diversity of tissues using their ability to efficiently pump out the dye Hoechst33342, thereby portraying a side population (SP) in dual-wavelength flow cytometry. We here describe the detection of a SP in dog liver, constituting approximately 3 % of the nonparenchymal-enriched cell fractions. A subpopulation of the SP (approximately 30 %) was immunonegative for the panhematopoietic marker CD45, and consisted predominantly of small, mononuclear, keratin 7-immunoreactive cells; characteristics suggestive of a liver progenitor cell phenotype. Both the CD45- and CD45+ SP showed upregulated expression of progenitor/cholangiocyte marker genes, but also low-level expression of hepatocyte markers, suggesting the presence of progenitor cells committed to the hepatic lineage in both SP fractions. Our findings demonstrate that healthy canine liver contains a small population of cells with progenitor-like characteristics that can be isolated on the basis of efficient Hoechst33342 expulsion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Arends
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vankelecom
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vander Borght
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Roskams
authors.forename: Louis C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Penning
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rothuizen
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Spee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002458:Cell Fractionation; D048430:Cell Shape; D004285:Dogs; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D053552:Keratin-7 / Q000378:metabolism; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D053552:Keratin-7; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens