Functional changes of cocultured hepatocyte sheets subjected to continuous liver regeneration stimulation in...

The formation of a secondary liver is expected in ectopic transplants in liver therapy. It is reported that the transplantation of hepatocyte sheets constitutes one of the techniques used to form a secondary liver. Accordingly, we established a subcutaneous transplant for hepatocyte/fibroblast sheets in previous studies. In this development study with hepatocyte/fibroblast sheets, we evaluated the differences in transplantation sites to promote the maturation of transplanted tissue in a liver injury model.

A cocultured hepatocyte sheet of fibroblasts (TIG-118 cells) and human hepatocytes (PXB cells) was prepared on a temperature-responsive culture dish. The prepared cocultured hepatocyte sheet was either transplanted subcutaneously or on the liver surface of a persistent liver injury model (cDNA-uPA/SCID mouse: uPA mouse), and was evaluated by the human albumin concentration in mouse blood. As a control group, hepatocyte cell sheets were used that were transplanted to both areas and compared.

Although the cocultured hepatocyte sheet led to functional improvements in the early stages of culture in subcutaneous transplantation, these did not last in the long-term after transplantation. Although coculture effects were not observed in the liver surface transplantation case, long-term functional expressions in mono- and cocultured sheets in the case of liver surface transplantation were exhibited compared with subcutaneous administration.

These results suggest that sustained stimulation of liver regenerationvaries depending on the transplant site and is largely involved in the maturation of hepatocyte tissue.