Fate tracing of hepatocytes in mouse liver
Open accessAbstract
Hepatocytes perform most of the functions of the liver and are considered terminally differentiated cells. Recently, it has been suggested that hepatocytes might have the potential to transdifferentiate or dedifferentiate under physiological or pathological conditions in vivo. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition of hepatocytes in liver fibrosis has also been proposed. However, these findings have not been fully confirmed. In this study, hepatocytes were genetically labelled for cell fate tracing using lacZ via the tamoxifen-induced CreERT/loxP system. After induction with tamoxifen, alb + cells were permanently marked by lacZ expression, and all progeny lacZ + cells were derived from a single source with no interference. We did not observe transdifferentiation or dedifferentiation of hepatocytes into cholangiocytes or hepatic progenitor cells under conditions of liver homeostasis or following a 2/3 partial hepatectomy. Meanwhile, lacZ/OPN-positive cells were observed in livers of 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine-fed mice, and lacZ/alpha-smooth muscle actin-positive cells were detected in carbon tetrachloride-induced chronic liver injury models. These results suggested that some existing differentiated alb + cells might have the potential of transdifferentiation/dedifferentiation or epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in vivo in some liver injury models, but the proportion of these alb + cells in liver was very low, and their significance and actual function during the pathological process remains to be elucidated.
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Only 7% of p16+ senescent cells stained positive for albumin, a marker for hepatocytes.
“only 7% of p16+ senescent cells stained positive for albumin, a marker for hepatocytes”
From Senescent hepatic stellate cells promote liver regeneration through IL-6 and ligands of CXCR2 (2022) · cites this paper as [28]
The Discussion identifies albumin as a hepatocyte marker, supporting that part of the sentence. The Results report albumin staining with lacZ and other cell markers, but our copy does not report p16-positive senescent cells or the claimed 7% figure (searched: p16, senescence, 7 percent). (LLM, conf=0.83)
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Senescent hepatic stellate cells promote liver regeneration through IL-6 and ligands of CXCR2
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- Authors
- Gu, X., Huang, D., Ci, L., Shi, J., Zhang, M., Yang, H., Wang, Z., Sheng, Z., Sun, R., & Fei, J.
- Affiliations
- Tongji University (CN)
- Shanghai Model Organisms (China) (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Fei, Jian
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2017-11-23
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 16108-16108
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5701080
- OpenAlex
- W2770309577
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 1.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81572776, 16DZ2280800)
- Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (16DZ2280800)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Hepatology › Liver physiology and pathology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Organ Transplantation Techniques and Outcomes
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmacology › Drug-Induced Hepatotoxicity and Protection
- Keywords
- hepatocyte transdifferentiation, hepatocyte dedifferentiation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, cholangiocytes, hepatic progenitor cells, liver fibrosis, partial hepatectomy, liver injury, carbon tetrachloride, diethyldithiocarbamate, alpha-smooth muscle actin, terminal differentiation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Carbon Tetrachloride, Cell Differentiation, Liver, Liver Cirrhosis, Liver Regeneration, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Tamoxifen, Hepatocytes, Mice, Hepatic Stellate Cells, Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition
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