Effect of glycyrrhizic acid and 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid on the differentiation of human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells into hepatocytes

Figure 5 Expression of hepatic genes in human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells treated with glycyrrhizic acid, 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid, and their combination. A and B: Glycyrrhizic acid (GA)- and 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (GT)-treated mesenchymal stem cells showed significant expression of early hepatocyte marker AFP at all time points. Highest expression was observed at day 7 but it declined in a time-dependent manner. Significant expression levels of ALB and CK-18 were detected at all time points. Late hepatic markers, TAT, CYP450-2B6, and HNF-4α were not detectable at day 7 but were significantly up-regulated at day 14 and 21, as compared to the untreated control; C: GA + GT-treated MSCs revealed significant up-regulation of AFP at all time points. Highest expression was observed at day 7 but it declined with treatment time. Significant expression levels of ALB, CK-18, TAT, CYP450-2B6, and HNF-4α were observed at all time points and their expression increased with time of differentiation, as compared to the untreated control. Statistical analysis was conducted by independent sample t-test. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 3); level of significance ^aP ≤ 0.05 (where ^aP ≤ 0.05, ^bP ≤ 0.01, and ^cP ≤ 0.001).