Xenotransplantation of human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells to rats with D-galactosamine-induced hepatitis Álvarez Mercado, Ana Isabel Sáez Lara, María José García-Mediavilla, María V Sánchez-Campos, Sonia Abadía Molina, Francisco Cabello Donayre, María Gil Hernández, Ángel González Gallego, Javier Fontana Gallego, Luis D-Galactosamine Experimental hepatitis Human hematopoietic mononuclear cells This work was supported by grants PI050520 from Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria and P06-CTS1365 from Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa, Junta de Andalucía (to L.F.); SAN196/LE04/07 from Consejería de Sanidad de la Junta de Castilla y León (to S.S.C.); and UXXI2006/0002 from Federación de Cajas de Ahorro de Castilla y León (to J.G.G.). CIBEREHD is funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain Cord blood is an attractive cell source in regenerative medicine and represents an alternative to bone marrow. The aim of this study was to investigate whether human umbilical cord blood mononuclear (HUCBM) cells might be valuable in hepatic regenerative medicine. HUCBM cells differentiated in vitro into hepatocytes, as suggested by expression of albumin, cytokeratin-18, glutamine synthetase, alpha-fetoprotein, and cytochrome P450 3A4 at both mRNA and protein levels in a time-dependent fashion. In contrast, the hematopoietic phenotype was gradually lost, as demonstrated by disappearance of CD45 expression. The regenerative potential of HUCBM cells was tested by using a human-to-rat xenotransplant model in which HUCBM cells were intraportally injected into rats with D-galactosamine-induced hepatitis. Liver histology and biochemical markers of hepatic damage were determined. Presence of human cells was detected in blood and liver of both control and D-galactosamine-treated animals. Cell transplantation produced an improvement in both the histological damage and liver function, as demonstrated by plasma values of alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl transferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and total and direct bilirubins. Results obtained suggest that HUCBM cells are capable of hepatic engraftment in this human-to-rat xenotransplant model and that transplantation of HUCBM cells may be a suitable therapy for liver disease. 2026-01-13T09:43:56Z 2026-01-13T09:43:56Z 2008 journal article Alvarez-Mercado AI, Sáez-Lara MJ, García-Mediavilla MV, Sánchez-Campos S, Abadía F, Cabello-Donayre M, Gil A, González-Gallego J, Fontana L. Xenotransplantation of human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells to rats with D-galactosamine-induced hepatitis. Cell Transplant. 2008;17(7):845-57. doi: 10.3727/096368908786516837 0963-6897 1555-3892 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/109599 10.3727/096368908786516837. eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional SAGE Publications