Differentiation of bone marrow cells in culture and in vivo

Recently, the bone marrow has been demonstrated to include progenitor cells that give rise to a large variety of cell types. We found that 3.5-4% of adult rat bone marrow cells express hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) receptor (c-Met) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Using a hepatocyte growth medium supplemented with hepatocyte growth factor and epidermal growth factor, we succeeded in inducing hepatocyte-like cells from the bone marrow cells in culture. The cells expressed albumin as shown by immunocytochemistry and mRNAs of tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase and tyrosine aminotransferase, the late markers of mature hepatocytes. Furthermore, in a skin reconstitution system in vivo, we showed that mouse bone marrow cells differentiated to several different cell types of skin within 3 weeks when combined with mouse embryonic skin cells. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.