Therapeutic potential of transplanted placental mesenchymal stem cells in treating Chinese miniature pigs with acute liver failure

BMC Medicine

Research Article

Yanyuan Li¹  Hongcui Cao²  Xiaoping Pan²  Qiaoling Pan²  Jianzhou Li²  Pengcheng Zhou²  Jinfeng Yang²  Yingjie Wang²  Jiong Yu²  Jun Li²  Lanjuan Li² 

[1]Department of Pathology, the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 79 Qingchun Road, 310003, Hangzhou, P.R. China

[2]State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 79 Qingchun Road, 310003, Hangzhou, P.R. China

关键词: Acute liver failure;    Cell transplantation;    Chinese miniature pig;    Irradiation;    Placental mesenchymal stem cells;    Portal vein;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1741-7015-10-56

 received in 2011-09-16, accepted in 2012-06-06,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundStem cell-based therapy to treat liver diseases is a focus of current research worldwide. So far, most such studies depend on rodent hepatic failure models. The purpose of this study was to isolate mesenchymal stem cells from human placenta (hPMSCs) and determine their therapeutic potential for treating Chinese experimental miniature pigs with acute liver failure (ALF).MethodshPMSCs were isolated and analyzed for their purity and differentiation potential before being employed as the donor cells for transplantation. ALF models of Chinese experimental miniature pigs were established and divided into four groups: no cell transplantation; hPMSCs transplantation via the jugular vein; X-ray-treated hPMSCs transplantation via the portal vein; and hPMSCs transplantation via the portal vein. The restoration of biological functions of the livers receiving transplantation was assessed via a variety of approaches such as mortality rate determination, serum biochemical analysis, and histological, immunohistochemical, and genetic analysis.ResultshPMSCs expressed high levels of CD29, CD73, CD13, and CD90, had adipogenic, osteogenic, and hepatic differentiation potential. They improved liver functions in vivo after transplantation into the D-galactosamine-injured pig livers as evidenced by the fact that ALT, AST, ALP, CHE, TBIL, and TBA concentrations returned to normal levels in recipient ALF pigs. Meanwhile, histological data revealed that transplantation of hPMSCs via the portal vein reduced liver inflammation, decreased hepatic denaturation and necrosis, and promoted liver regeneration. These ameliorations were not found in the other three groups. The result of 7-day survival rates suggested that hPMSCs transplantation via the portal vein was able to significantly prolong the survival of ALF pigs compared with the other three groups. Histochemistry and RT-PCR results confirmed the presence of transplanted human cells in recipient pig livers (Groups III, IV).ConclusionsOur data revealed that hPMSCs could not only differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells in vitro and in vivo, but could also prolong the survival time of ALF pigs. Regarding the transplantation pathways, the left branch of the portal vein inside the liver was superior to the jugular vein pathway. Thus, hPMSCs transplantation through the portal vein by B-ultrasonography may represent a superior approach for treating liver diseases.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Cao et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.