Optimized Hepatocyte-Like Cells with Functional Drug Transporters Directly-Reprogrammed from Mouse Fibroblasts and their Potential in Drug Disposition and Toxicology.

Background/aims: To develop a suitable hepatocyte-like cell model that could be a substitute for primary hepatocytes with essential transporter expression and functions. Induced hepatocyte-like (iHep) cells directly reprogrammed from mice fibroblast cells were fully characterized.

Methods: Naïve iHep cells were transfected with nuclear hepatocyte factor 4 alpha (Hnf4α) and treated with selected small molecules.

[Age estimation and age structure of Cycas fairylakea population in Shenzhen City].

Based on the structural characteristics of Cycas trunk, including vegetative leaf base scars, sporophyll concave rings, and average occurrence probabilities of vegetative leaf and sporophyll, a method for the age estimation of Cycas fairylakea population was developed, and the age of each individual was calculated. Three approaches, i.e.