CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE HEPATIC STEM CELL COMPARTMENT

该研究的重点是定义细胞和分子生物学 在正常人和正常人中， 肿瘤器官，特别强调生长的作用 因子和细胞因子。本研究旨在确定 未成熟的胆汁上皮对生长的反应是否不同 胆汁郁积诱导的刺激与成年动物中所见的相似。在 此外，生长因子/受体系统的可能参与 与胆管中肝干细胞的早期激活有关 检查了增殖。甲胎蛋白是高度选择性的 青年胆管结扎后7天小胆管表达 5周龄的大鼠。虽然没有显著增加， 表达干细胞因子、c-kit、肝细胞生长因子和 在成年大鼠中观察到转化生长因子-α， 所有这些生长因子的表达在胆管中增加 结扎大鼠达5周龄。这些结果表明，胆汁 年轻大鼠的上皮细胞对胆汁淤积的反应方式是 表型上类似于肝细胞癌早期激活期间观察到的 成人肝脏中的干细胞。

The research is focused on defining the cellular and molecular biology of the hepatic and pancreatic stem cell compartments in normal and neoplastic organs with a particular emphasis on the role of growth factors and cytokines. The present study was undertaken to determine whether the immature bile epithelium responds differently to growth stimulus induced by bile stasis to that seen in the adult animal. In addition, the possible involvement of the growth factor/receptor systems associated with early activation of hepatic stem cells in bile duct proliferation was examined. Alpha-fetoprotein was highly and selectively expressed in small bile ducts 7 days after bile duct ligation in young rats up to 5 weeks of age. Although no significant increase in the expression of stem cell factor, c-kit, hepatocyte growth factor and transforming growth factor-alpha is observed in adults rats, the expression of all these growth factors was increased in the bile duct ligated rat up to 5 weeks of age. These results indicate that the bile epithelium in young rats responds to bile stasis in a fashion that is phenotypically similar to that seen during early activation of hepatic stem cells in adult liver.