title: Adipose-derived stem cell-based treatment for acute liver failure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute liver failure (ALF) is a highly lethal disease, for which effective therapeutic methods are limited. Although allogeneic liver transplantation is a viable treatment method for ALF, there is a serious shortage of liver donors. Recent studies suggest that stem cell transplantation is a more promising alternative. Hence, we investigate whether human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) have the therapeutic potential for ALF in this study based on the studies of rat models.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sprague Dawley rats were used to establish ALF models by D-galactosamine injection. These rats were randomly divided into a human ASC-treated group and a phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) control group. The human ASCs or PBS was transplanted through the spleen of rats. The indices of hepatic function and hepatic histology were dynamically detected, and the survival rates of rats were also counted. Double-fluorescence immunohistochemistry was employed to detect the ASC fate after transplantation. Moreover, both concentrated ASC conditional media and ASC lysates were transplanted through the femoral vain of rats to investigate the therapeutic potential for ALF.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ASC transplantation group showed improved viability in comparison with the sham control. Histological and biochemical analysis suggested that liver morphology and function were improved in terms of cell proliferation and apoptosis. Although a plethora of ASCs persist in the spleen, the improvement in liver function was obvious. However, ASCs did not differentiate into hepatocytes after engrafting to livers within 3 days. In addition, both concentrated serum-free ASC conditional media and ASC lysates, characterized by high levels of hepatocyte growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor, demonstrated obvious improvement in terms of high survival rates of ALF rats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that ASC transplantation has the potential for ALF treatment partly by the mechanism of secreting growth factors contributing to liver regeneration.
authors.affiliation: Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchangzhong Road, Shanghai, 200072, P.R. China. chenguangf2006@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Guangfeng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Liver Diseases Research Center, The Nanjing Military Command, 9585 Humin Road, Shanghai, 200235, P.R. China. jyp120@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Yinpeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchangzhong Road, Shanghai, 200072, P.R. China. xiujuansh@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Xiujuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchangzhong Road, Shanghai, 200072, P.R. China. yuqiu2012@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchangzhong Road, Shanghai, 200072, P.R. China. mmisyou@126.com.
authors.forename: Yushan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Affiliated Hospital, Guiyang Medical College, 9 Beijing Road, Guiyang, 550004, P.R. China. chengmL@21cn.com.
authors.forename: Mingliang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Liver Diseases Research Center, The Nanjing Military Command, 9585 Humin Road, Shanghai, 200235, P.R. China. drwxj85@yahoo.com.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaojin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Liver Diseases Research Center, The Nanjing Military Command, 9585 Humin Road, Shanghai, 200235, P.R. China. ccw2@163.com.
authors.forename: Chengwei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Liver Diseases Research Center, The Nanjing Military Command, 9585 Humin Road, Shanghai, 200235, P.R. China. 316706744@qq.com.
authors.forename: Yinxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Liver Diseases Research Center, The Nanjing Military Command, 9585 Humin Road, Shanghai, 200235, P.R. China. jiangfuzhu1979@163.com.
authors.forename: Fuzhu
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Liver Diseases Research Center, The Nanjing Military Command, 9585 Humin Road, Shanghai, 200235, P.R. China. 79286545@qq.com.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Liver Diseases Research Center, The Nanjing Military Command, 9585 Humin Road, Shanghai, 200235, P.R. China. 363162137@qq.com.
authors.forename: Heng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Liver Diseases Research Center, The Nanjing Military Command, 9585 Humin Road, Shanghai, 200235, P.R. China. qcfu85@163.com.
authors.forename: Qingchun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchangzhong Road, Shanghai, 200072, P.R. China. xqliu2014@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Xiaoqing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D050156:Adipogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000502:physiology; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D020219:Chondrogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000494:pharmacology; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000628:therapy*; D008115:Liver Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D015996:Survival Rate; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor