The cells grew in size to >18 μm, demonstrated a cordlike morphology in the colonies with classic bile canaliculi, lost expression of EpCAM, NCAM, and AFP, and acquired expression of ALB, glycogen storage, ICG uptake, and urea secretion. In ultrastructural studies, the cells acquired the classic hepatocyte features of large numbers of mitochondria, rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and Golgi complexes. Selective differentiation into cholangiocytes

occurred with feeders of mature stellate cells and myofibroblasts from adult livers. Feeder-free conditions that yielded equivalent results consisted of the embedding of hHpSCs into hydrogels www.selleckchem.com/products/MS-275.html containing type I collagen (60%) and HAs (or Matrigel; 40%) and the use of MKM-C. The cells formed branches and ducts, especially in 3D cultures, and the cells within the ducts expressed secretin receptors (SRs) and CK19 selleck inhibitor (Fig. 7). Liver development is induced in a stepwise process with signals from the cardiac mesoderm and then from subpopulations of mesenchymal cells.14 During liver organogenesis, endodermal cells are induced by the cardiac mesoderm to differentiate into hHpSCs within the ventral endoderm. Subsequently, newly specified hepatic cells delaminate, migrate into the surrounding septum transversum mesenchyme, and intermingle with endothelia, which remain in contact with hepatic cells throughout development.14 Thus, mutant mouse embryos with fetal liver kinase 1 (a

receptor for VEGF essential for the formation of endothelia), MCE lacking endothelia, show initial hepatic induction but not the proliferation of hepatic cells into the surrounding septum transversum mesenchyme; this indicates the importance of endothelia for liver organogenesis.15 At the time of hepatic induction, septum transversum mesenchymal cells surround the developing cardiac region near the ventral foregut endoderm and are the source of inductive signals including fibroblast growth factors and bone morphogenetic proteins, angiogenesis, and intense hedgehog signaling, which is also a key regulator of murine and human hepatic progenitors throughout life.14 The liver is organized into physiological units that

contain all developmental stages of hepatic cells, and the stem cell niche in vivo has been shown to be the ductal plates in fetal and neonatal livers and the canals of Hering in pediatric and adult livers.8, 16 These niches contain type III collagen, HAs, a form of laminin binding to α6β4 integrin (assumed to be laminin 5), and a novel form of CS-PG found to have minimal sulfation.8, 17, 18 In contrast, the in vivo microenvironment associated with hHBs is composed of type III, IV, and V collagens, laminin isoforms binding to α3β1, CS-PGs with normal levels of sulfation, and various forms of HS-PGs.8, 17, 18 The matrix chemistry found in the space of Disse (the space between differentiated hepatocytes and endothelium) forms a gradient from the periportal region (zone 1) to the pericentral region (zone 3).