Fetal hepatocyte-derived culture medium elicits adipocyte differentiation to bile duct cell lineages in a mouse model.

Fetal cells in the developmental stages function with a distinct mechanism in comparison to adult tissues, which may be a useful source for regenerative medicine in postnatal medicine; however, the precise molecular mechanism remains to be elucidated fully. The present study investigated murine fetal hepatocytes, which were cultured in vitro, and the supernatants were used for the culture with murine adipose tissue-derived cells. Notably, the results indicated that fetal hepatocyte-derived culture medium elicits the induction of differentiation of adipose tissue-derived cells to bile duct cell lineages, but not to hepatocyte lineages in mice. This indicates that fetal cells possess the multi potentials, which are already absent in adults, and may be useful for regenerative medicine in future.