Journal
DEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS
Volume 234, Issue 2, Pages 413-421Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/dvdy.20536
Keywords
liver; stem cells; oval cells; nestin; neuro-specific enhancer; GFP; A6; EpCAM; Bgp1; alpha-fetoprotein
Categories
Funding
- NIDDK NIH HHS [R01 DK018477, R01 DK018477-33] Funding Source: Medline
- NINDS NIH HHS [R01 NS032764] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Oval cells, which become apparent in the liver after chronic injury, serve as bipotent progenitors for differentiated hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. We found that, in the liver of adult transgenic mice in which expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) is driven by regulatory elements of the nestin gene, the GFP signal marks a subpopulation of small epithelial cells that meet the criteria for oval cells, including morphology, localization, antigenic profile, and reactivity in response to injury. In the regenerating and developing liver, we also found nestin-GFP-positive cells that express hepatocyte markers; such cells may correspond to transiently appearing differentiating progeny of oval cells. During development, GFP-expressing cells in the liver emerge relatively late, after the appearance of differentiated hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. Our results suggest that nestin-GFP cells in the liver correspond to a specialized cell type whose primary function may be to serve as a reserve for adult liver epithelial cell types.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available