title: Isolation and Enrichment of Liver Progenitor Subsets Identified by a Novel Surface Marker Combination.
abstract: During chronic liver injuries, progenitor cells expand in a process called ductular reaction, which also entails the appearance of inflammatory cellular infiltrate and epithelial cell activation. The progenitor cell population during such inflammatory reactions has mostly been investigated using single surface markers, either by histological analysis or by flow cytometry-based techniques. However, novel surface markers identified various functionally distinct subsets within the liver progenitor/stem cell compartment. The method presented here describes the isolation and detailed flow cytometry analysis of progenitor subsets using novel surface marker combinations. Moreover, it demonstrates how the various progenitor cell subsets can be isolated with high purity using automated magnetic and FACS sorting-based methods. Importantly, novel and simplified enzymatic dissociation of the liver allows for the isolation of these rare cell populations with a high viability that is superior in comparison to other existing methods. This is especially relevant for further studying progenitor cells in vitro or for isolating high-quality RNA to analyze the gene expression profile.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine II, Saarland University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Henrike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Julich-Haertel
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine II, Saarland University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tiwari
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine II, Saarland University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mehrfeld
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine (CIPMM), University of Saarland.
authors.forename: Elmar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine II, Saarland University Medical Center.
authors.forename: Miroslaw
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kornek
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine II, Saarland University Medical Center; lukacsver@aol.com.
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lukacs-Kornek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology* / Q000293:injuries; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers