Ductular reaction-on-a-chip: Microfluidic co-cultures to study stem cell fate selection during liver injury

Sci Rep. 2016 Oct 31:6:36077. doi: 10.1038/srep36077.

Abstract

Liver injury modulates local microenvironment, triggering production of signals that instruct stem cell fate choices. In this study, we employed a microfluidic co-culture system to recreate important interactions in the liver stem cell niche, those between adult hepatocytes and liver progenitor cells (LPCs). We demonstrate that pluripotent stem cell-derived LPCs choose hepatic fate when cultured next to healthy hepatocytes but begin biliary differentiation program when co-cultured with injured hepatocytes. We connect this fate selection to skewing in production of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 caused by injury. Significantly, biliary fate selection of LPCs was not observed in the absence of hepatocytes nor did it happen in the presence of TGF-β inhibitors. Our study demonstrates that microfluidic culture systems may offer an interesting new tool for dissecting cellular interactions leading to aberrant stem cell differentiation during injury.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Lineage / drug effects*
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Coculture Techniques
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Ethanol / toxicity*
  • Hepatocyte Growth Factor / metabolism
  • Hepatocytes / cytology*
  • Hepatocytes / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Keratin-7 / metabolism
  • Liver / cytology
  • Mice
  • Microfluidics / instrumentation
  • Microfluidics / methods*
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells / cytology
  • Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells / drug effects
  • Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Rats
  • Serum Albumin / analysis
  • Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Stem Cells / drug effects
  • Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / metabolism

Substances

  • Keratin-7
  • Serum Albumin
  • Transforming Growth Factor beta1
  • Ethanol
  • Hepatocyte Growth Factor