Fig. 8.

Outcomes in mice with severe ALF and effects of conditioned medium. (A) Survival in mice given Rif, Phen and 160 mg/kg MCT followed by either sham treatment or transplantation of hESC-MECs (n=8 each). Seven of eight sham-treated mice died 3 days after MCT treatment. By contrast, mortality is lowered in mice treated with 5×10⁶ hESC-MECs. (B) Survival in ALF after administration of plain medium (PM) or conditioned medium from hESC-MECs. Mice were treated by intraperitoneal injection of 1 ml medium daily commencing 1 day after Rif, Phen and 125 mg/kg MCT and continuing until death. Conditioned medium from hESC-MECs did not alter mortality. (C,D) Hepatic metabolic and synthetic functions in hESC-MECs compared with HepG2 cells with conversion of ethoxyresorufin (C) and urea synthesis (D). (E) Cytoprotection with conditioned medium from hESC-MECs of primary mouse hepatocytes cultured with TNF-α. (F) The protective effect of VEGF upon TNF-α-induced cytotoxicity is demonstrated to establish that specific constituents released by hESC-MECs are responsible for rescue in ALF. Values plotted in C–F are means ± s.d.