Figure 6
From: Cryopreservation protocol for human biliary tree stem/progenitors, hepatic and pancreatic precursors
In vivo liver engraftment and hepatocyte differentiation of hBTSCs (cryopreserved vs freshly isolated) after intrasplenic transplantation in SCID mice. Thirty days after hBTSC injection into the spleen, livers and serum were analyzed. (A) Sections of livers were analyzed by immunohistochemistry utilizing anti-human mitochondria. Freshly isolated and cryopreserved hBTSCs showed similar engraftment efficiency into the murine liver parenchyma (N = 3). The expression of human mitochondria in liver parenchyma of SCID mice indicated that 2.626 ± 1.530% and 3.722 ± 0.639% of the host’s parenchyma cell mass derived from transplanted freshly isolated and cryopreserved hBTSCs respectively (data are expressed as the mean ± SD of 3 experiments). (B) Sections of livers were analyzed by RT-qPCR for human albumin gene expression. The gene expression of human albumin in liver parenchyma of SCID mice was higher (§p < 0.01) when cryopreserved hBTSCs (5.19*10−7 ± 3.06*10−7) were transplanted as compared to when freshly isolated hBTSCs (1.90*10−10 ± 1.09*10−10) were transplanted. (Data are expressed as the mean ± SD of 3 experiments). (C) levels of human serum albumin in the SCID mice were significantly higher (
p < 0.0001) when cryopreserved hBTSCs (76.39 ± 17.04 ng/mL) were transplanted with respect to freshly isolated hBTSCs (24.13 ± 1.44 ng/mL). (Data are expressed as mean ± SD of 3 experiments).
