Hepatogenic differentiation from human adipose-derived stem cells and application for mouse acute liver injury

Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) derived from adipose tissue have the capacity to differentiate into endodermal, mesoderm, and ectodermal cell lineages in vitro, which are an ideal engraft in tissue-engineered repair. In this study, human ADSCs were isolated from subcutaneous fat. The markers of ADSCs, CD13, CD71, CD73, CD90, CD105, CD166, CYP3A4, and ALB were detected by immunofluorescence assays. Human ADSCs were cultured in a specific hepatogenesis differentiation medium containing HGF, bFGF, nicotinamide, ITS, and oncostatin M for hepatogenic differentiation. The hepatocyte markers were analyzed using immunofluorescence and real-time PCR after dramatic changes in morphology. Hepatocytes derived from ADSCs or ADSCs were transplanted into the mice of liver injury for observation cells colonization and therapy in liver tissue. The result demonstrated that human ADSCs were positive for the CD13, CD71, CD73, CD90, CD105, and CD166 but negative for hepatocyte markers, ALB and CYP3A4. After hepatogenic differentiation, the hepatocytes were positive for liver special markers, gene expression level showed a time-lapse increase with induction time. Human ADSCs or ADSCs-derived hepatocyte injected into the vein could improve liver function repair and functionally rescue the CCl₄-treated mice with liver injury, but the ADSCs transplantation was better than ADSCs-derived hepatocyte transplantation. In conclusion, our research shows that a population of hepatocyte can be specifically generated from human ADSCs and that cells may allow for participation in tissue-repair.