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Expression of transforming growth factor-alpha and its receptor during human liver development and maturation

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Abstract

We investigated the expression of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-α) and its receptor during human liver development and maturation, using immunohistochemistry. In the fetal liver, strong immunoreactivity for TGF-α and its receptor was noted in intrahepatic bile duct cells of various developmental stages; moderate immunoreactivity for TGF-α and mild immunoreactivity for TGF-α receptor were found in immature hepatocytes. In the postnatal liver, reactivity for TGF-α in hepatocytes decreased gradually and was negative or only weakly positive in the adult liver, while reactivity for TGF-α receptor in hepatocytes increased gradually and was strongly positive in the adult liver. In contrast, immunoreactivity of TGF-α and its receptor in intrahepatic bile duct cells persisted in the postnatal liver and was positive in the adult liver. These data suggest that the system of TGF-α and its receptor has an important role in the proliferation and differentiation of intrahepatic biliary cells and hepatocytes in the fetal liver. The decreasing expression of TGF-α in hepatocytes in the postnatal liver may indicate that proliferative activity of hepatocytes gradually decreases with liver maturation. The presence of TGF-α and its receptor in intrahepatic bile ducts in the postnatal liver suggests that the system of TGF-α and TGF-α receptor is operative postnatally.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Second Department of Pathology, Kanazawa University School of Medicine, 920, Kanazawa, Japan

    T. Terada & Y. Nakanuma

  2. Second Department of Surgery, Kanazawa University School of Medicine, 920, Kanazawa, Japan

    T. Ohta

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  1. T. Terada
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  2. Y. Nakanuma
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  3. T. Ohta
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Terada, T., Nakanuma, Y. & Ohta, T. Expression of transforming growth factor-alpha and its receptor during human liver development and maturation. Vichows Archiv A Pathol Anat 424, 669–675 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195783

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195783

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