Fig. 5: Selection of biomarkers to identify the porcine stem/progenitors.
From: A postnatal network of co-hepato/pancreatic stem/progenitors in the biliary trees of pigs and humans
a Candidate biomarkers for the niches. Heatmaps of the expression pattern of stem cell markers versus maturation markers of porcine biliary tree stem cells (pBTSCs, five samples) and four human cell subpopulations (hBTSCs, hHpSCs, hHBs, and hAHeps) were used for selecting markers for the study of niches in porcine biliary trees. b Candidate locations for the niches. Sections of the large, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) blocks include the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, duodenum, and connective tissues from four 1-day-old piglets. They were studied for the distribution of PBGs among those organs and tissues. Scale bar = 3 mm. c PAS staining of a section of neonatal peribiliary glands (PBGs) at the duodenum papilla. Scale bar = 50 μm. d Quantitative analysis of the abundance of the niches at different sites in the biliary tree and duodenum. e Porcine biliary tree stem cells isolated from the biliary tree and placed in serum-free Kubota’s medium in 2D and 3D culture systems. The pBTSCs proliferate slowly in monolayer cultures; they form organoids within 12 h, and these can expand slowly. Scale bar = 100 μm. f The qPCR for endodermal stem cell markers versus maturation markers for pBTSCs. The cDNA of the pig liver tissue was used as a control to normalize the results. Results are presented as the mean ± standard deviation. The error bars indicate the standard deviation of triplicate values from three experimental replicates. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.
