Extracellular Matrix Functionalization and Huh-7.5 Cell Coculture Promote the Hepatic Differentiation of Human Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in a 3D ICC Hydrogel Scaffold.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

In this study, we constructed a microporous hydrogel scaffold with hexagonally packed interconnected cavities and extracellular matrix (ECM)-functionalized interior surface, and systematically investigated the hepatic differentiation of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAD-MSCs) under the influence of three key factors: three-dimensional (3D) geometry, ECM presence, and coculture with hepatocyte-derived cell line. Results confirmed that (i) hepatic differentiation of hAD-MSC is more efficient in a 3D microporous scaffold than in 2D monolayer culture; (ii) the presence of both ECM components (fibronectin and collagen-I) in the scaffold is superior to collagen-I only, highlighting the importance of fibronectin; and (iii) coculture with Huh-7.5 hepatocyte-derived cells promoted liver-specific functions of the hAD-MSC-derived hepatocytes. The optimized differentiation process only took 21 days to complete, a time length that is shorter or at least comparable to previous reports, and more importantly, yielded an albumin production more than 10-fold higher than conventional 2D culture. Our approach of optimizing hAD-MSC hepatic differentiation could provide a potential solution to the challenges such as hepatocyte transplantation or the establishment of human physiologically relevant liver models in vitro .

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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