Enginerring liver tissue- lucky dip

Question 1

How are stem cells being used to create an implantable liver tissue?

Answer 1

Researchers are using pluripotent stem cells, both embryonic and induced, to generate functional liver tissue for transplantation. These cells are differentiated into hepatocytes and endothelial cells, which then self-assemble into vascularized liver spheres. These spheres can be attached to a biocompatible scaffold to create an implantable liver construct.

Question 2

What are some applications of human stem cell-derived hepatocytes?

Answer 2

Stem cell-derived hepatocytes offer diverse applications in research and medicine.
They are used for drug metabolism studies, and modeling liver diseases like fatty liver disease.
They are also employed in microRNA regulation studies, fluidic systems for perfusion analysis, genome editing for precision mutation analysis, and investigations of fetal liver biology.

Question 3

What are the advantages of using dental stem cells (DSCs) in research?

Answer 3

DSCs include dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs), stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED), periodontal ligament stem cells, dental follicle stem cells, stem cells from the apical papilla, and gingival stem cells
- easily accessible, as teeth are often extracted for orthodontic reasons
- relatively easy to isolate
- have a good capacity to differentiate into various cell types, including osteoblasts, odontoblasts, chondrocytes, and potentially even myocytes and hepatocytes

Deszcz 2023

Question 4

Explain how researchers are refining their liver tissue engineering process to create vascularized liver spheres.

Answer 4

Deszcz 2023: The researchers are combining hepatocytes and endothelial cells in micro-wells, allowing them to self-assemble into spheres. Within these spheres, endothelial cells form tube-like structures, suggesting early vascularization.