Fig. 6: Synergy between IL6 and FXR activation boosts primary human hepatocyte organoid growth.

a Experimental strategy to test different organoid growth conditions for PHHs. b Representative brightfield images of outgrowing PHH organoids under fetal culture conditions, and upon supplementation of IL6 and IL6+FXRa at day 7 post seeding. Scale bar = 300 μm. c Quantification of the diameter of outgrowing PHH organoids at day 7 and 14 post seeding under the different conditions. Mean ± SD is plotted, n = 30 organoids per condition. FXRa versus fetal condition, day 7: *p = 0.0441; IL6 versus fetal condition and IL6+FXRa versus fetal condition, day 7: ***p < 0.0001; IL6+FXRa vs IL6, day 7: ***p = 0.0003; IL6 versus fetal condition, day 14: **p = 0.0013, IL6+FXRa versus fetal condition and IL6+FXRa versus IL6, day 14: ***p < 0.0001, one-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc test. n.s. not significant. d Representative brightfield image and lipid staining overlaid with phalloidin of an IL6-cultured organoid. Arrows point at extensive lipid accumulation. Scale bar = 20 μm. e, f Representative time-lapse images visualizing the divergent growth potencies of an IL6-cultured organoid (e) and an IL6+FXRa cultured organoid (f). White outlines highlight cell division. Scale bar = 20 μm (e, f). g Growth characteristics of PHH organoids when cultured under the different conditions. White dots indicate passaging. Grey crosses indicate terminated cultures (failure to regrow after passaging). d–f Representative of characterization of n = 2 expanding PHH organoid cultures. Source data are provided as a Source data file.