Administration of Bone Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells into the Liver: Potential to Rescue Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum in a Mouse Model (Abcc6−/−)
Figure 3
Hepatocytic differentiation capacity of mouse bone marrow stem cells in vitro. The cells at passage 5 were cultured either in the regular stem cell culture medium (a, left panels) or in the differentiation-inducing medium (a, right panels). As observed by phase contrast microscopy at day 8 (top panels), the cells became extended and larger in the differentiation-inducing medium (a, right top). Immunofluorescent analysis was performed at day 8 of differentiation. Cells were stained with antibodies to liver-specific marker proteins, albumin (a, middle panels), or CK-18 (a, bottom panels). DAPI staining was used to identify the nuclei (blue). Strong signals were observed in the cells cultured in the differentiation-inducing medium (a, right middle and bottom panels), while weak signal (a, left middle and bottom panels), if any, was detected in the cells cultured in the regular stem cell medium. (b) RT-PCR was conducted and the mRNA levels of different liver-specific genes were examined. They are cytokeratin-18 (CK-18), hepatocyte nuclear factor 3b (HNF3b) and Abcc6, respectively. Lane 1: cultured cells in differentiation-inducing medium; lane 2: cultured cells in stem cell culture medium; lane 3: MLE-10 (mouse liver epithelial cell line); lane 4: H2O blank.
