Effects of Hydrostatic Pressure Exposure on Hepatic Progenitor Cells

Hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) have the potential to regenerate healthy tissue in the setting of chronic liver disease. The goal of this study was to characterize the mechanosensitivity of HPCs to sustained hydrostatic pressure (20 mmHg) similar to that observed in liver cirrhosis. Bipotential Murine Oval Liver (BMOL) cells, an HPC-like cell line, were cultured in a hydrostatic pressure controlled chamber at 37°C and 5% CO2 for 4 days (to 90% confluency) or 12 days (superconfluency). Controls were run for each time point in a standard incubator without pressure. Nuclei were stained with DAPI and cells were viewed under a Zeiss 710 laser scanning confocal microscope with 40x objective. Nuclei were measured with Image J software (170 to 398 distinct cell nucleus area measurements per group). Two-way ANOVA was used to examine the influence of pressure and confluency on nuclear size. Cells exposed to pressure (mean nuclear area 126.7µm2, S.D. 56.9) had significantly larger nuclei than control cells (mean nuclear area 102.3µm2, S.D. 84.1), p<.001. The pressure*confluency interaction was also significant (p<.05). Results suggest that HPCs are sensitive to low-level hydrostatic pressure associated with chronic liver disease. Further experiments include analyzing cellular proliferation, morphology, and differentiation effects associated with pressure exposure.