Effect of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells in a cirrhotic rat model.
OBJECTIVE
Cirrhosis is a long-term consequence of chronic hepatic injury and no effective therapy is currently available for this disease. Recent reports have shown that the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the capacity to differentiate into hepatocytes, and umbilical cord blood is a rich source of MSCs. Hence, we investigated the effect of infusing of human umbilical cord blood-derived MSCs (HMSCs) in carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced cirrhosis in a rat model.


METHODS
The effect of HMSCs on cirrhosis was evaluated using haematoxylin and eosin and Masson's trichrome staining. To evaluate cirrhosis-related factors, we measured protein and mRNA expression of transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1), collagen type I and alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA).


RESULTS
Histological findings showed that liver fibrosis in rats was alleviated by HMSCs infusion. Interestingly, CM-DiI-labelled HMSCs expressed the hepatocyte-specific markers, human albumin and alpha-fetoprotein. Infusion of HMSCs significantly inhibited TGF-beta1, collagen type I and alpha-SMA expressions in CCl4-induced cirrhotic rats.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results showed that HMSCs infusion could improve liver fibrosis in rats with CCl4-induced cirrhosis, raising the possibility for clinical use of HMSCs in the treatment of cirrhosis.
Kohwang Medical Research Institute, School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
Kyung Hee
KH
Jung
Hyun Phil
HP
Shin
Sun
S
Lee
Yun Jeong
YJ
Lim
Soo Han
SH
Hwang
Hoon
H
Han
Hwon Kyum
HK
Park
Joo-Ho
JH
Chung
Sung-Vin
SV
Yim
D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008106:Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental / Q000628:therapy*; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000378:metabolism
D000199:Actins; D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1; C508962:Tgfb1 protein, rat; C498862:Acta2 protein, rat