Author: Palakkan Anwar Azad Drummond Robert Anderson Richard Alexander Greenhough Sebastian Tv Kumary Hay David Colin Ross James Alexander
Publisher: Science Publishers
ISSN: 2049-9434
Source: Biomedical Reports, Vol.3, Iss.5, 2015-09, pp. : 626-636
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Abstract
Adult hepatocytes are polarised with their apical and basolateral membranes separated from neighbouring cells by tight junction proteins. Although efficient differentiation of pluripotent stem cells to hepatocytes has been achieved, the formation of proper polarisation in these cells has not been thoroughly investigated. In the present study, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were differentiated to hepatocyte-like cells and the derived hepatocytes were characterised for mature hepatocyte markers. The secretion of hepatic proteins, expression of hepatic genes and the functional hepatic polarisation of stem cellderived hepatocytes, foetal hepatocytes and the HepG2 hepatic cell line were evaluated and the different lines were compared. The results indicate that hESCderived hepatocytes are phenotypically more robust and functionally more efficient compared with the hMSC-derived hepatocytes, suggesting their suitability for toxicity studies.