Stem cell differentiation and human liver disease

Figure 1 Potential application of human stem cells in cell based therapy for liver disease. Pluripotent and multipotent stem cells can be reprogrammed or purified from human material that was been ethically sourced. Following expansion and differentiation the derivative hepatocyte like cells can be used for transplantation or bio-artificial liver construction.

Figure 2 Human liver cells in drug discovery[7,53,66,67]. Drug development process is a lengthy and expensive process. The derivation of hepatocyte-like cells from different human genotypes may provide novel in-vitro models for the screening of new compounds in the drug discovery process.

Figure 3 Human fetal liver development[31,74]. The key stages of human liver development are shown in pink and blue. Endoderm formation occurs in the 2nd-3rd wk of fetal development. The liver bud forms between week 3-4 and expands rapidly. Hepatocytes and biliary epithelia differentiate and mature from 7 wk post fertilisation and this process continues in the neo-nate.