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[Evolutive characters of oval cells in experimental hepatocarcinogenesis]
Qiong-Rong Chen1, Jin Xiang, Bing Liao
1Department of Pathology, Zhongshan Medical School, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510080, P. R. China.
Background & Objective:
The role of oval cells in hepatocarcinogenesis is unclear yet. This study was to explore the correlation of oval cells to hepatocarcinoma through dynamic observation on evolutive characters of oval cells in experimental hepatocarcinogenesis.
Methods:
Male SD rats were fed with 3o-me-DAB to establish an animal model of experimental hepatocarcinoma. Evolutive characters of oval cells in liver tissue during experimental hepatocarcinogenesis was dynamically observed with routine HE staining, Alcian blue staining, and immunohistochemistry.
Results:
Oval cells (OV-6-positive) appeared sparsely around the portal tract in the 4th week of tumor-induction. In the 8th and the 14th weeks, OV-6-positive cells were increased gradually and expanded into hepatic lobules; the hepatic tissue was divided as pseudo-lobule-like. Till the 17th and the 24th weeks, carcinoma foci were formed, meanwhile, the total amount of oval cells were decreased, and OV-6-positive cells were observed in carcinoma foci. On Alcian blue-stained preparations, two distinct histologocal types of carcinoma foci could be seen: cholangioepithelial carcinoma foci were positive and hepatocellular carcinoma foci were negative.
Conclusion:
Oval cells, as intrahepatic stem cells, might play an important role in hepatocarcinogenesis.
