Differentiation of bone mar-row derived Thy-1~+β_2M~- cells into hepatocytes induced by coculture with transgenic CFSCs

Studies of transplantation in vivo indicted thatbone marrow derived stem cells had a potential to differenti-ate into mature hepatocytes. However, there are lots ofdoubts and uncertainties in the influencing factors and con-trol agents of effectively inducing stem cell differentiation invitro, the efficiency of stem cells‘ differentiation into hepato-cytes and differentiated cells‘ life-span and functional state,etc. In this study, rat bone marrow derived Thy-l^ β2M^- cells(BDTCs) were induced to differentiate into hepatocytes byco-culturing with CFSC/HGF feeder layers which expressedhHGF efficiently and stably. RT-PCR and immunofluores-cent texts proved induced BDTCs expressed infant and adulthepatocyte specific genes. Further more, these cells displayedfunctions of indocyanine green (ICG) uptake, ammoniummetabolism and albumin production. It was shown thatgrowth factors together with hepatic nonparenchyma cellsprovided a feasible microenvironment for differentiation ofbone marrow stem cells into hepatocytes. The studies notonly provided a significant biological model for going deepinto the mechanism of stem cell plasticity, but also offered atheoretical and technical foundation of gene and stem cellengineering-based regenerative medicine for end-stage liverdiseases.