Comparison of hepatic nuclear factor-4 expression in two- and three-dimensional culture of Whartons jelly-derived cells exposed to hepatogenic medium

Vol. 56 No. 4, 2015

ROMANIAN JOURNAL of MORPHOLOGY and EMBRYOLOGY

Tahereh Talaei-Khozani, Zahra Khodabandeh, Mansooreh Jaberipour, Ahmad Hosseini, Soghra Bahmanpour, Zahra Vojdani

The research on Whartons jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) from the umbilical cord suggests promising therapeutic use for hepatocyte replacement therapy. One of the highly conserved members of the nuclear receptor superfamily in the liver is hepatocyte nuclear factor-4alpha (HNF4alpha), involved in hepatocyte differentiation. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) cultures of WJ-MSCs on hepatocyte differentiation. MSCs were isolated from human Whartons jelly, characterized by flow cytometry, and differentiated toward osteogenic and adipogenic lineage. WJ-MSCs were cultured in 2D collagen films and 3D collagen scaffolds in the presence of hepatogenic media with or without pre-treatment with fibroblast growth factor-4 (FGF4) for 21 days. The expression of HNF4alpha was evaluated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). According to flow cytometry data, the cells isolated from Whartons jelly were shown to express MSC markers. HNF4alpha expression analysis revealed that pre-exposing the cells with FGF4 was more effective in hepatocyte differentiation. 3D cultures also improve the expression of HNF4alpha compared with 2D culture system. In conclusion, the combination of FGF4 and 3D culture improved hepatocyte differentiation. It seems 3D interaction of the cells improved the hepatogenesis.

Corresponding author: Zahra Vojdani; e-mail: vojdaniz@sums.ac.ir, zahrabandeh@gmail.com

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