Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Immunologic Factors ; pharmacology ; Postoperative Period

Animals ; Estradiol ; blood ; pharmacology ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; metabolism ; Liver Cirrhosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

OBJECTIVETo investigate in vitro methods of inducing mouse embryonic stem cell(s) (ESC) into hepatocytes.

METHODSE14 mouse ESC were cultivated in suspension and plated to form aggregates, the embryoid bodies. They were allowed to outgrow on the plated culture with the stepwise addition of growth factors-- acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and oncostatin M (OSM) into the culture medium. Morphology was investigated by phase contrast microscopy. Gene expressions of endodermal and liver specific mRNA were analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Indocyanine green (ICG) uptake assay and periodic acid-Schiff reaction (PAS) were performed to assess the differentiation and function of the cells.

RESULTSMorphology analysis revealed a difference between ESC-derived hepatic cells and original ESC in that the former showed distinct round or polygonal shapes with clear boundaries, some arranged tightly in cords, while the latter grew in clones without clear boundaries between cells. Those ESC-derived hepatic cells expressed endodermal and liver specific genes mRNA--TTR, AAT, AFP, ALB, G6P and TAT. ICG uptake assay and PAS reaction were positive for those ESC-derived hepatic cells. The ICG positive cells were about 85.1% in number.

CONCLUSIONESC-derived hepatic cells possess characteristics of hepatocytes, which would promise the eventual clinical use of ESC in treating damaged liver tissues.

Animals ; Cell Differentiation ; physiology ; Cells, Cultured ; Cytokines ; pharmacology ; Embryo, Mammalian ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 1 ; pharmacology ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Mice ; Oncostatin M ; Stem Cells ; cytology

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of tacrolimus on murine hair follicle cycle.

METHODHematoxylin-eosin dyeing and reverse transcription-polymerase chain raction techniques were used.

RESULTSFive days after depilation, the hair follicles in both the tacrolimus group and the minoxidil group was in anagen V, while that in the vaseline group was in anagen III. vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) were detected in back skin in both the tacrolimus group and the minoxidil group, but not in the vaseline group.

CONCLUSIONTacrolimus can promote the growth of hair by stimulating the hair follicle to enter anagen V in mice, which may be explained by the effects of VEGF and HGF.

Animals ; Hair Follicle ; drug effects ; physiology ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Minoxidil ; pharmacology ; Skin ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Tacrolimus ; pharmacology ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; metabolism

Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Fetal Blood ; cytology ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 4 ; pharmacology ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Humans

OBJECTIVETo investigate the possibility of the human bone marrow multipotent adult progenitor cells (hMAPCs) to differentiate into hepatocytes with hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/ fibroblast growth factor-4 (FGF-4) in vitro.

METHODS(1) Obtaining the hMAPCs. Bone marrow was obtained from volunteers and then centrifuged through density gradient centrifugation methods. The collected mononuclear cells were cultured through adheret culture to get mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The hMAPCs were obtained through collecting and isolating the MSCs by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS) through depletion selection by use of CD45 and GlyA microbeads. (2) Differentiation of the hMAPCs with HGF+FGF-4. Group A: HGF (20 ng/ml) + FGF-4 (10 ng/ml) induced hMAPCs; group B (positive control group): L-02 human hepatocytes(cell lines); and group C (negative control group): the undifferentiated hMAPCs. (3) The expressions of albumin (Alb), alpha fetoprotein (AFP), cytokeratin-18 (CK-18), and cytokeratin-19 (CK-19) were detected with immunocytochemistry to identify the characteristics of the differentiated cells at different times and the ratio of the positive cells was determined. (4) ALB, AFP, CK-18, and CK-19 expressions of the differentiated cells were detected by RT-PCR assay to investigate the mRNA transcriptions of characteristic hepatic proteins. (5) Alb expressions of the differentiated cells at different times were detected by Western blot on the 21st and 35th days.

RESULTS(1) The results of immunocytochemistry. The staining of Alb, CK18 were essentially positive in group A. As an early marker of immature hepatocytes, AFP staining was positive on the 7th day but negative in later differentiating periods in group A. (2) The results of RT-PCR. On the 7th day, the differentiated hMAPCs expressed AFP mRNA but were negative in later differentiating periods. On the contrary, the mRNA of Alb and CK-18 were positive at all times. (3) The results of Western blot assay. Alb protein was positive on the 21st day and 35th day.

CONCLUSIONSUnder some definite inducing conditions hMAPCs can differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells. They may serve as a potential cell source for liver engineering.

Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 4 ; pharmacology ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Humans ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology

Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Differentiation ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 4 ; pharmacology ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Humans ; Multipotent Stem Cells ; cytology

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between the proliferation, differentiation of rat hepatic stem like cell line WB-F344 and cytokines in vitro.

METHODS(3)H thymidine labelling of new synthesized DNA was used to examine the mitogenic responsiveness of WB-F344 cells to cytokines, western blot was used to study the expression of cytokines receptors on hepatic stem cells, and apoptotic cells were detected by Flow cytometry.

RESULTSWB-F344 cells showed a proliferative response to the cytokines of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), Insulin at the dose of 80 ng/ml, and the relative cpm values are 982.95, 906.32, 863.98 and 968.67 respectively, while non response to interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) at the same dose, and an inhibition or apoptosis response to transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) at 80 ng/ml with a 26.89% apoptotic rate. Western blot showed that there were HGF, EGF, FGF, TGF-beta receptors expressed on WB-F344 cells. When WB-F344 cells were cultured in the differential system (DMEM, 10% Fcs, HGF 10 to approximately 50 ng/ml, EGF 20 ng/ml, Insulin 1 microg/ml, Dex 1 micromol/L), the cells could differentiated into hepatocytes. In addition, HGF could scattered WB-F344 cells.

CONCLUSIONThe proliferation and differentiation of liver stem cells are regulated by various cytokines which may play an important role when liver is damaged seriously.

Animals ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cell Division ; drug effects ; Cytokines ; pharmacology ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Insulin ; pharmacology ; Liver ; cytology ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred F344 ; Stem Cells ; cytology ; drug effects ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) on the prevention of scar formation and the promotion of wound healing by gene transfer.

METHODSA total of 12 female New Zealand rabbits were used in this study. Rabbits were anesthetized with an intravenous injection of sodium pentobarbital, and identical wounds were made over the ventral surface of each ear. Five circular wounds, 7 mm in diameter, were created in each ear by excision through the skin to the underlying cartilage using sterile technique. After the surgical procedures, 10 of the rabbits were randomly allocated to five groups, with 2 rabbits in each group: Ad-HGF group 1, Ad-HGF group 2, Ad-HGF group 3, Ad-GFP (a reporter gene) group and the solvent group. Immediately after surgery, 6 x 10(7) pfu Ad-HGF, 6 x 10(8) pfu Ad-HGF, 6 x 10(9) pfu of Ad-HGF, 6 x 10(9) pfu of Ad-GFP, or same volume of solvent (PBS, pH 7.2) was applied once to each wound in groups 1 to 5, respectively. One additional rabbit was used to evaluate the transfer efficiency of the adenovirus vector by transferring Ad-GFP (6 x 10(9) pfu) into its wounds. Ice slides of wounds from this animal were observed under fluorescence microscopy. Another additional rabbit was used to evaluate the expression of HGF and TGFbeta1 after transferring Ad-HGF (6 x 10(9) pfu) into each of its wound. Immunohistochemistry was used for detection.

RESULTSThe effect of HGF on reducing excessive dermal scarring was observed by adenovirus-mediated gene transfer. Transfection of the human HGF cDNA into skin wounds through an adenoviral vector suppressed the over-expression of TGFbeta1, which plays an essential role in the progression of dermal fibrogenesis. Application of HGF to the wounds significantly enhanced wound healing and inhibited over scarring.

CONCLUSIONHGF gene therapy could be a new approach for preventing excessive dermal scarring in wound healing.

Animals ; Cicatrix ; prevention & control ; Female ; Gene Transfer Techniques ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Rabbits ; Random Allocation ; Wound Healing ; drug effects ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo evaluate whether ultrasonic microbubble destruction (US/MB) could enhance the therapeutic effects of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene transfer for acute myocardial infarction (MI).

METHODSMI was induced by left anterior descending artery ligation in male SD rats. Two to 4 hours thereafter, MI rats were randomly treated with tail vein infusing pc-DNA3.1-HGF plasmid mixed with microbubbles (US/MB-HGF group, n = 18); tail vein infusing pc-DNA3.1-HGF plasmid mixed with saline (US-HGF group, n = 18); tail vein infusing empty plasmid mixed with microbubbles (US/MB-P group, n = 18). All rats were exposed to ultrasound treatment thereafter till contrast imaging disappeared in cardiac region. Rats were sacrificed at 24 hours, 7 days or 14 days, respectively (n = 6 each) and myocardial protein expression of bcl-2 and HGF as well as microvascular density (MVD) were determined.

RESULTSThe myocardial protein expressions of bcl-2 and HGF in US/MB-HGF group were significantly higher than those in US-HGF and US/MB-P groups at 7 days post MI (all P < 0.01) and MVD was significantly higher in US/MB-HGF group (367.6 +/- 17.6) than that in US-HGF (268.9 +/- 0.8) and US/MB-P (186.8 +/- 11.8) groups (all P < 0.05) at 14 days post MI.

CONCLUSIONSUltrasound-mediated microbubble destruction could enhance systemic HGF administration induced myocardial angiogenesis and reduce systemic HGF administration induced myocardial apoptosis in rats with acute MI.

Animals ; Genetic Therapy ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Microbubbles ; Myocardial Infarction ; therapy ; Neovascularization, Physiologic ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley