1. Autophagy regulates biliary differentiation of hepatic progenitor cells through Notch1 signaling pathway
- Author
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Zeng, Jianxing, Jing, Yingying, Shi, Rongyu, Pan, Xiaorong, Lai, Fobao, Liu, Wenting, Li, Rong, Gao, Lu, Hou, Xiaojuan, Wu, Mengchao, and Wei, Lixin
- Abstract
ABSTRACTAutophagy plays important roles in self-renewal and differentiation of stem cells. Hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) are thought to have the ability of self-renewal as well as possess a bipotential capacity, which allows them to differentiate into both hepatocytes and bile ductular cells. However, how autophagy contributes to self-renewal and differentiation of hepatic progenitor cells is not well understood. In this study, we use a well-established rat hepatic progenitor cell lines called WB-F344, which is treated with 3.75 mM sodium butyrate (SB) to promote the differentiation of WB-F344 along the biliary phenotype. We found that autophagy was decreased in the early stage of biliary differentiation, and maintained a low level at the late stage. Activation of autophagy by rapamycin or starvation suppressed the biliary differentiation of WB-F344. Further study reported that autophagy inhibited Notch1 signaling pathway, which contributed to biliary differentiation and morphogenesis. In conclusions, autophagy regulates biliary differentiation of hepatic progenitor cells through Notch1 signaling pathway.
- Published
- 2016
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