Species: Hu, Mu
Applications: Flow, ICC/IF, IHC, CyTOF-ready
Host: Rat Monoclonal
Species: Mu
Applications: WB, Flow, ICC/IF, IHC
Host: Rat Monoclonal
Species: Mu
Applications: Flow, ICC/IF, IHC
Host: Rat Monoclonal
Description
Liver is well known to possess facultative stem cells which can be activated in response to injury and hepatic stem cell activation was first described in rat model, wherein, chemical damage in combination with partial hepatectomy resulted in the emergence of a new cell type which was described according to its nuclear morphology as "oval cells". The word 'oval cells' is now employed to define population of small proliferating cells with oval-shaped nuclei which arise within liver tissue following certain types of hepatic injury. Oval cell proliferation is activated when the proliferative capacity of hepatocytes is impaired, as well as in certain models of carcinogenesis. Histologically, hepatic tissue is highly complex and contains many different cell types including various kinds of hepatocytes, ducts, hematopoietic cells, endothelial cells, macrophages, stellate cells etc., and the oval cells have been proposed to be bipotential progenitor cells capable of generating both hepatocytes and bile ducts. Due to their bipotency and high clonogenicity, oval cells have been considered putative liver stem cells and research is in progress for elucidation of signaling molecules involved in controlling the activation, proliferation and differentiation of this unique cell population. Our oval cell antibodies have been developed against hepatic nonparenchymal cells (NPCs) from mice undergoing oval cell activation and with these antibodies, it is now possible to perform microarray analysis of distinct liver cell populations during induced oval cell response or certain pathological conditions.
