Beneficial effect of hepatic stimulatory substances on the survival of intrasplenically transplanted hepatocytes.

Intrasplenic hepatocyte transplantation has been demonstrated to have a tentative role in treating experimental liver disease, but methods for promoting the rapid proliferation of intrasplenic hepatocytes are still quite limited. In this study, hepatic stimulatory substances (HSS) obtained from regenerating porcine livers were injected directly into the subcutaneously translocated spleens of recipient rats that had received intrasplenic hepatocyte transplantation. The clusters of intrasplenic hepatocytes contained more than 100 cells, and formed cord structures at 2 wk after transplantation, and the hepatocytes still survived at 6 wk in the HSS-treated rats. In contrast, the clusters contained less than 10 hepatocytes at 2 wk after transplantation, and no surviving hepatocytes was observed at 4 and 6 wk in control rats. Additionally, marked proliferation of bile ductular-like structures appeared around the clusters of surviving hepatocytes in the splenic red pulp of the HSS-treated rats, but were not found in control rats at 4 and 6 wk after transplantation.