Physiological Hypoxia Enhances Stemness Preservation, Proliferation, and Bidifferentiation of Induced Hepatic Stem Cells

Figure 4

Effects of hypoxia on bipotential differentiation of iHepSCs in vitro. (a) Diagrams showing differentiation of iHepSCs into hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. (b) Morphology of the typical cystic tube structure after induction of iHepSCs to cholangiocytes under hypoxia and their diameter in each group. (c) Immunofluorescence staining: expression of F-actin, CK19, and EpCAM in the cystic tube. (d) qRT-PCR: relative expression of biliary markers in iHepSCs, iHepSCs induced under normoxia, and those induced under hypoxia. (e) ELISA: expression of albumin in the secretion in each group. (f–h) PAS staining, DiI-ac-LDL uptake, and indocyanine green (ICG) uptake and their quantitative analysis: characteristics of mature hepatocytes in each group. Statistical significance: , , and . Scale bars = 100 μm.

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