Functional response of hepatocytes transplanted into Gunn rats stimulated with thyroid hormone.

In the attempt to translate laboratory studies into clinical practice, the small number of cells that can be transplanted is currently a problem to be solved. The aim of this work is to study the functional response of intrasplenically transplanted syngeneic rat adult and fetal hepatocytes to a proliferative stimulus, 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine. Total serum bilirubin significantly decreased from 7 to 90 days after fetal hepatocyte transplantation and from 24 hr to 30 days after adult hepatocyte transplantation.

Hepatic proliferation in Gunn rats transplanted with hepatocytes: effect of retrorsine and tri-iodothyronine.

Hepatocyte transplantation would offer an attractive alternative to liver transplantation in the treatment of inborn errors of liver metabolism. However, a major problem in most transplantation studies to date has been the limited growth of transplanted cells in the recipient organ. We performed a strategy for selective proliferation of transplanted cells by interfering with the proliferative capacity of resident hepatocytes, using the pyrrolizidine alkaloid retrorsine and then transplanting liver cells in conjunction with repeated administration of triiodothyronine, an inducer of hepatocyte proliferation in rats.