Ashwini A. Ketkar-Atre1, Tom Struys2, Tineke Notelaers3, Michel Hodenius4, Philip Roelandt3, Tom Dresselaers2, Marcel De Cuyper4, Catherine Verfaillie3, Uwe Himmelreic
1Biomedical NMR unit, KU Leuven, Leuven, Vlaams Brabant, Belgium; 2Biomedical NMR unit, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 3Interdepartmental Stem Cell Institute, Leuven, Belgium; 4Lab Of BioNano Colloids, KULeuven, Leuven, Belgium
In diseases like liver cirrhosis or hepatitis where hepatocytes are damaged and healing is difficult, it is necessary to isolate hepatocytes from mixed population of endo- and mesodermal cells differentiated from stem cells. We labelled differentiated mESCs into hepatocyte like cells with Cationic MLs (unspecific uptake), Anionic MLs (negative control) and Lac MLs (specific uptake) with galactose-terminal entities which are recognized by asialoglycoprotein receptors (ASGPR)present on hepatocytes. Higher specificity in uptake was observed with Lac MLs. And in vivo experiments revealed the potential use of Lac MLs as a contrast agent for non-invasive evaluation of liver function.
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