PUBLICATION
Farnesoid X Receptor is Required for the Redifferentiation of Bi-potential Progenitor Cells during Biliary-Mediated Zebrafish Liver Regeneration
- Authors
- Cai, P., Mao, X., Zhao, J., Nie, L., Jiang, Y., Yang, Q., Ni, R., He, J., Luo, L.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-210730-7
- Date
- 2021
- Source
- Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) 74(6): 3345-3361 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- He, Jianbo, Luo, Lingfei
- Keywords
- FXR, biliary epithelial cell, extreme liver damage, hepatocyte, transdifferentiation
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Biliary Tract/cytology
- Cell Differentiation
- Liver Regeneration*/physiology
- Platelet Membrane Glycoproteins/physiology*
- Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Stem Cells/physiology*
- Zebrafish
- PubMed
- 34320243 Full text @ Hepatology
Citation
Cai, P., Mao, X., Zhao, J., Nie, L., Jiang, Y., Yang, Q., Ni, R., He, J., Luo, L. (2021) Farnesoid X Receptor is Required for the Redifferentiation of Bi-potential Progenitor Cells during Biliary-Mediated Zebrafish Liver Regeneration. Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.). 74(6):3345-3361.
Abstract
Liver regeneration after extreme hepatocyte loss occurs via transdifferentiation of biliary epithelial cells (BECs), which includes dedifferentiation of BECs into bi-potential progenitor cells (BPPCs) and subsequent redifferentiation into nascent hepatocytes and BECs. Although multiple molecules and signaling pathways have been implicated to play roles in the BEC-mediated liver regeneration, mechanisms underlying the dedifferentiation-redifferentiation-transition and the early phase of BPPC redifferentiation that is pivotal for both hepatocyte and BEC directions, remain largely unknown. The zebrafish extreme liver damage model, genetic mutation, pharmacological inhibition, transgenic lines, whole-mount and fluorescent in situ hybridizations and antibody staining, single-cell RNA sequencing, quantitative real-time PCR, and heat shock-inducible overexpression were used to investigate roles and mechanisms of farnesoid X receptor (FXR, encoded by nr1h4) in regulating BPPC redifferentiation. The nr1h4 expression was significantly upregulated in response to extreme liver injury. Genetic mutation or pharmacological inhibition of FXR was ineffective to BEC-to-BPPC dedifferentiation, but blocked the redifferentiation of BPPCs to both hepatocytes and BECs, leading to accumulation of undifferentiated or less-differentiated BPPCs. Mechanistically, induced overexpression of extracellular signal-related kinase 1 (ERK1, encoded by mapk3) rescued the defective BPPC-to-hepatocyte redifferentiation in the nr1h4 mutant, and ERK1 itself was necessary for the BPPC-to-hepatocyte redifferentiation. The Notch activities in the regenerating liver of nr1h4 mutant attenuated, and induced Notch activation rescued the defective BPPC-to-BEC redifferentiation in the nr1h4 mutant. CONCLUSIONS: FXR regulates BPPC-to-hepatocyte and BPPC-to-BEC redifferentiations through ERK1 and Notch, respectively. Given recent applications of FXR agonists in the clinical trials for liver diseases, this study proposes potential underpinning mechanisms by characterizing roles of FXR in the stimulation of dedifferentiation-redifferentiation-transition and BPPC redifferentiation.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping