title: Partial blockage of hepatocyte maturation in hepatoma-derived growth factor transgenic mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the role of hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) in liver development, especially in the hepatocyte differentiation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We generated transgenic mice which overexpressed HDGF in hepatocytes under the transcriptional control of mouse albumin promoter/enhancer. To examine the effects of HDGF overexpression on hepatocyte differentiation, we investigated the expression patterns of the differentiation marker genes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The HDGF transgenic mice developed normally and showed no apparent abnormality in the liver. However, the gene expression patterns of the liver in adult transgenic mice were similar to those of the neonatal liver in control mice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that HDGF-overexpression partially suppresses hepatocyte maturation.
authors.affiliation: Hirayuki Enomoto, Hideji Nakamura, Teruhisa Yamamoto, Weidong Liu, Shuhei Nishiguchi, Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Mukogawa-cho 1-1, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirayuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Enomoto
authors.forename: Hideji
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Komatsu-Kanatani
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Kenya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Yorihide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.forename: Teruhisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Weidong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishiguchi