Eberhard Daniel, O'Neill Kathy, Burke Zoë D, Tosh David
Department of Biology & Biochemistry, Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Methods Mol Biol. 2010;636:285-92. doi: 10.1007/978-1-60761-691-7_17.
Transdifferentiation is defined as the conversion of one cell type to another. One well-documented example of transdifferentiation is the conversion of pancreatic cells to hepatocytes. Here we describe a robust in vitro model to study pancreas to liver transdifferentiation. It is based on the addition of the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone to the rat pancreatic exocrine cell line AR42J. Following glucocorticoid treatment, cells resembling hepatocytes are induced. Transdifferentiated hepatocytes express many of the properties of bona fide hepatocytes, e.g. production of albumin and ability to respond to xenobiotics. These hepatocytes can be used for studying liver function in vitro as well as studying the molecular basis of transdifferentiation.
转分化被定义为一种细胞类型向另一种细胞类型的转变。一个有充分文献记载的转分化例子是胰腺细胞向肝细胞的转变。在这里，我们描述了一个用于研究胰腺向肝脏转分化的强大体外模型。它基于向大鼠胰腺外分泌细胞系AR42J中添加合成糖皮质激素地塞米松。糖皮质激素处理后，诱导出类似肝细胞的细胞。转分化的肝细胞表达许多真正肝细胞的特性，例如白蛋白的产生以及对外源生物的反应能力。这些肝细胞可用于体外研究肝功能以及研究转分化的分子基础。
