ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF FETAL AND NEONATAL LIVER-DERIVED MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS FROM RABBITS

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) became in recent years a promising implement for cell therapies. Our study described the isolation and characterization of liver mesenchymal stem cells (LMSCs). We isolated LMSCs from the rabbit liver tissue from two groups: 20th day's old fetuses and 4 days-old kittens. LMSCs were characterized by flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and quantitative real-time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Flow cytometry of the isolated LMSCs showed variable expression of the cluster of differentiation markers (CD) including, CD105, CD106, CD11b, CD38, CD63, CD9, and CD14. Fetal liver isolated LMSCs showed expression of CD105, CD106, CD9, and CD63 but no expression of CD14, CD11b, and CD38 was observed. Absolute expression of LMSCs was performed by qRT-PCR analysis to detect cytoskeleton genes including, vimentin, nestin, and desmin in the experimental groups. In vivo localization of stem cell markers such as CD105 (Endoglin), vimentin, and desmin was also distinguished in fetal and neonatal liver tissues using IHC.