Foxl1-Cre-marked Adult Hepatic Progenitors Have Clonogenic and Bi-Lineage Differentiation Potential - Time Course. Mus musculus

The winged helix transcription factor Foxl1 is a marker for progenitor cells and their descendants in the mouse liver in vivo. Here, we purify progenitor cells from Foxl1-Cre; RosaYFP mice and evaluate their proliferative and differentiation potential in vitro. Treatment of Foxl1-Cre; RosaYFP mice with 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine diet led to an increase of the percentage of YFP-labeled Foxl1+ cells. Clonogenic assays demonstrated that up to 3.6% of Foxl1+ cells had proliferative potential. Foxl1+ cells differentiated into cholangiocytes and into hepatocytes in vitro, depending on the culture condition employed. Microarray analyses indicated that Foxl1+ cells express stem cell markers such as Prom1 as well as differentiation markers such as Ck19 and Hnf4a. Thus, the Foxl1-Cre; RosaYFP model allows for easy isolation of adult hepatic progenitor cells that can be expanded and differentiated in culture. Overall design: There were 26 samples used in the analysis. Typically 4 replicates for each of 7 conditions, except for two condtions which had only 3 replicates. Day 0 samples are non-parenchymal cells without DDC treatment. YFP_pos samples are YFP-expressing non-parenchymal cells induced by Foxl1-CRE after 3, 7 or 14 days of DDC treatment. YFP_neg samples are analogous but do not expressed YFP.