Survival of endogenous hepatic stem/progenitor cells in liver tissues during liver cirrhosis

This study addressed whether endogenous hepatic stem/progenitor (HSP) cells survival were related to the injured signals during liver cirrhosis.Material and methodsLiver cirrhosis was induced in C57BL/6 mice by administering diethylnitrosamine (DEN) in drinking water. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and Masson's trichrome staining were used to identify infiltrative cells and connective tissues, respectively. The inflammatory activity grade and fibrotic stage, represented as G and S respectively, and evaluated by the International Simplified Grading and Staging System (ISGSS). Endogenous HSP cells (Ng2+HSP) were identified by immunofluorescence staining with an anti-neuro/glial antigen 2 (Ng2) antibody. All data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and GraphPad Prism 6 and Student's t-test was performed to determine statistical significance. p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.Key findingsAll mice administered oral DEN developed liver fibrosis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). During the fibrosis period, observed a positive correlation of survival of endogenous HSP (Ng2+HSP) cells with inflammatory activity. As the disease developed into the cirrhotic stage, when lost correlation of endogenous HSP cells with inflammatory activity, revealed a dramatically reduced survival rate of endogenous HSP (Ng2+HSP) cells.SignificanceThe DEN-induced liver cirrhosis could develop into three time zone of fibrosis, cirrhosis and cancer, and the histological ...
Source: Life Sciences - Category: Biology Source Type: research