Fulminant hepatic failure is a serious clinical disease and may threaten the life of patients. However, because of the damage of mass liver cells, the organ function is often irreversible due to the liver cell degeneration, swelling, or apoptosis.
Thus, to supply new sources of functional liver cells is a valuable choice for these patients.
A research team led by Dr. Yi -Jun Wang from Tianjin Medical University of China addressed this issue and their study will be published on March 28, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology .
In their study, HOC from rats were labeled with green fluocescent protein (GFP) or 5,6-carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinmidyl ester (CFDASE). Cell fluorescence was observed under fluorescent microscope at 6, 24, 48 and 72 h after labeling. CFDASE labeled HOC (5 × 106 cells each rat) were injected into livers of rats with FHF induced by D-galactosamine. Serum albumin (ALB), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and total bilirubin (TBil) levels were measured at different time points. Liver function of rats was examined on days 3, 7, 14 and 21 after HOC transplantation.