Chinese scientists use new technology to discover the source of newborn liver cells

The red signal in the picture is the newborn liver cells, concentrated in the middle area of ​​the liver lobules

The liver is an important metabolic organ in the human body, and the main functional cells are hepatocytes.

The basic unit of the liver is the liver lobule, and the liver cells in the liver lobule produce new liver cells through self-proliferation.

Previous studies on the source of hepatocytes relied on a single molecular marker to track a certain hepatocyte subgroup in the liver, and then observe the expansion of this subgroup.

The traditional method of detecting cell proliferation is like a camera, which can only take a moment, that is, to detect cell proliferation at a certain point in time, and cannot accurately distinguish the proliferation of various types of cells.

Zhou Bin’s research group has developed a video recorder that can capture cell proliferation—ProTracer, which can track cell proliferation uninterrupted for a long period of time, but also can accurately locate and track cell proliferation of a specific cell group (such as liver cells).

"This study visually displays the proliferation of all hepatocyte groups through a brand-new perspective and technical means, reveals the source of hepatocytes in the physiological homeostasis and the process of injury and regeneration of the adult liver, and opens up new ideas for the study of liver injury repair and regeneration.

It is reported that this work has been highly praised by authoritative experts at home and abroad.