Figure 1.

The morphology of HPCs and HPCs differentiated into adipocytes, hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. Under phase-contrast microscopy, small and flattened colonies were observed after an initial 7-day culture (A, day 3; B, day 5; C, day 7). The colonies of loosely packed cells displayed a round or oval shape and a convex cytoplasm. After 10 days of culture, these cells exhibited a clear and larger cytoplasm, became polygonal and densely packed, and began to expand (D, day 10; E, day 15; F, day 20). After 10 days differentiation, differentiated adipocytes contained lipid droplets (G), differentiated hepatocytes exhibited a polygonal morphology with a low cytoplasm/nucleus ratio (H) and differentiated cholangiocyte were positive for CK19 (I). Original magnification: large view, A-D, 4x; E-F, 10x; small view, A-F, 20x; G, 40 x; H-I, 20 x.