الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 122 |  |  |
| | | from | 122 | | |
Abstract
Severe hepatic failure accounts for many deaths and raises medical costs each year all over the world. Currently, liver transplantation is the most common therapeutic option for patients with end-stage chronic liver disease. Due to the decrease in the number of organ donors, many in need of transplantation continue to remain on the waiting list. Hepatic Tissue Engineering is a step toward alleviating the need for organ donors. The capacity of stem cells to differentiate into specific cell types makes them very promising in tissue regeneration and repair. However, realizing this promise requires novel methods for guiding lineage-specific differentiation of stem cells. In this study we aimed to evaluate the differentiation potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells into hepatocytes like cells in vitro. BMSCs isolated from rat femurs and tibias were cultured at passage 3 in the presence of hepatocyte growth factor, fibroblast growth factor-4 and Oncostatin M. The medium was changed every 3 days and stored for albumin, alpha-fetoprotein and urea assays. Expression of albumin, c-Met and alpha -fetoprotein mRNA were detected by reverse transcriptase –polymerase chain reaction.