[The liver].
Hepatocyte transplantation has not yet reached therapeutic status, as it has proven difficult to transplant a sufficient number of functional hepatocytes able to integrate and proliferate inside liver plates. It has recently been shown that whole livers can be decellularized by portal infusion of detergents, yielding a decellularized scaffold with a well preserved vascular network and specific liver matrix. Perfusion of different combinations of cells through the portal vein of these scaffolds results in reconstitution of a complete functional organ that can be transplanted in small animals. An auto-constructed human liver could be engineered from exogenous liver scaffolds seeded with various cell populations, including autologous cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. Auto-constructed livers might replace conventional liver grafts in future.
Chirurgie digestive et visérale, Hôpital Antoine-Béclère, 157 rue de la Porte-de-Trivaux - 92141 Clamart cedex. dominique.franco@abc.aphp.fr
Dominique
D
Franco
Karim
K
Si-Tayeb
D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000502:physiology; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods