Research progress in liver tissue engineering.

Liver transplantation is the definitive treatment for patients with end-stage liver diseases (ESLD). However, it is hampered by shortage of liver donor. Liver tissue engineering, aiming at fabricating new livers in vitro, provides a potential resolution for donor shortage.

Signalling pathways involved in the process of mesenchymal stem cells differentiating into hepatocytes.

End-stage liver disease can be the termination of acute or chronic liver diseases, with manifestations of liver failure; transplantation is currently an effective treatment for these. However, transplantation is severely limited due to the serious lack of donors, expense, graft rejection and requirement of long-term immunosuppression. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have attracted considerable attention as therapeutic tools as they can be obtained with relative ease and expanded in culture, along with features of self-renewal and multidirectional differentiation.

An approach to preparing decellularized whole liver organ scaffold in rat.

Objectives: In present study, we plan to produce a decellularization protocol from rat liver to generate a three-dimensional whole organ scaffold.

Methods: A combination of 1% SDS and 1% tritonX-100 were used orderly to decellularize rat livers. After about 6 h of interactive antegrade/retrograde perfusion, a decellularized whole translucent liver scaffold with integrated blood vessel networks was generated.

Research on stem cells as candidates to be differentiated into hepatocytes.

Liver diseases have become one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. Cell therapy and liver transplantation are though to be two treatment options well accepted. However, the shortage of cells sources in cytotherapy and the lack of liver donor in liver transplantation are the major obstacles for the performance of these treatment methods.