Tunable fluorescent probes for detecting aldehydes in living systems.

Aldehydes, pervasive in various environments, pose health risks at elevated levels due to their collective toxic effects shared mechanisms. Monitoring total aldehyde content in living systems is crucial due to their cumulative impact. Current methods for detecting cellular aldehydes are limited to UV and visible ranges, restricting their analysis in living systems.

links biliary maturation to branching morphogenesis.

Branching morphogenesis couples cellular differentiation with development of tissue architecture. Intrahepatic bile duct (IHBD) morphogenesis is initiated with biliary epithelial cell (BEC) specification and eventually forms a heterogeneous network of large ducts and small ductules. Here, we show that is required for developmental establishment of small ductules.

Panic at the Bile Duct: How Intrahepatic Cholangiocytes Respond to Stress and Injury.

In the liver, biliary epithelial cells (BECs) line intrahepatic bile ducts (IHBDs) and are primarily responsible for modifying and transporting hepatocyte-produced bile to the digestive tract. BECs comprise only 3% to 5% of the liver by cell number but are critical for maintaining choleresis through homeostasis and disease. To this end, BECs drive an extensive morphologic remodeling of the IHBD network termed ductular reaction (DR) in response to direct injury or injury to the hepatic parenchyma.

Cellular and transcriptional heterogeneity in the intrahepatic biliary epithelium.

Epithelial tissues comprise heterogeneous cellular subpopulations, which often compartmentalize specialized functions like absorption and secretion to distinct cell types. In the liver, hepatocytes and biliary epithelial cells (BECs; also called cholangiocytes) are the two major epithelial lineages and play distinct roles in (1) metabolism, protein synthesis, detoxification, and (2) bile transport and modification, respectively. Recent technological advances, including single cell transcriptomic assays, have shed new light on well-established heterogeneity among hepatocytes, endothelial cells, and immune cells in the liver.