Zeitschrift für Regenerative Medizin

Oval Cells in Response to Partial Hepatectomy and Bile Duct Ligation: Flow Cytometric Analysis

Hussein Abdellatif, Mohamed Gamal Shiha

Background: The liver has an impressive capacity for regeneration, However, in cases of severe injury, bipotent progenitors (oval cells) are activated. Such cells are capable of differentiation into hepatocytes and cholangiocytes.

Aim: To detect change in oval cells population in response to partial hepatectomy (PH) and bile duct ligation (BDL) and using a flow cytometric based method.

Methods: 24 female albino rats randomly divided into three groups (A) control, (B) Partial hepatectomy (PH) (C) Bile duct ligation (BDL) group. Animals sacrificed 9 days post injury. Biochemical analysis was performed. Percentage of oval cells in liver tissue lysate was detected by flow cytometry. Data were expressed as mean ± SD.

Results: Flow cytometric analysis of oval cells was performed and there was significant deviation in BDL (9.48 ± 1.87) and PH (4.04 ± 0.9) groups as compared to control group (0.85 ± 0.18). Pair wise comparison reveals highly significant results in BDL group. Detection of oval cells was dependant on intracellular expression of OV-6 antigen.

Conclusion: Oval cells can be easily identified by flow cytometry and were found to express increased response to bile duct ligation than partial hepetectomy in liver injury induced models.