FIGURE 5.

Wild-type primary hepatocyte transplantation rescues liver architecture and prevents death of FAH^−/− rabbits. A, top panels, FAH immunohistochemistry shows wild-type hepatocyte repopulation of the liver of a FAH^−/− rabbit 1 month post-transplantation compared with the control (non-transplanted FAH^−/− rabbit). Lower panels, hematoxylin and eosin staining shows restoration of liver architecture in the same transplanted FAH^−/− rabbit compared with the non-transplanted FAH^−/− rabbit. Scale bars, 50 μm. B, body weight changes of the two FAH^−/− rabbits in A (with or without transplantation) and a control wild-type rabbit. * corresponds to p < 0.01. C, photographs of a transplanted FAH^−/− rabbit at 3 months post-transplantation and a non-transplanted FAH^−/− rabbit. The non-transplanted FAH^−/− rabbit appears weak. D and E, serum levels of ALT and AST in a wild-type rabbit and two FAH^−/− rabbits (with (w/) or without (w/o) transplantation). Error bars represent S.E. (n = 3 replicate measurements). * corresponds to p < 0.01. F, FAH immunohistochemistry shows extensive wild-type hepatocyte repopulation of the liver of a FAH^−/− rabbit 3 months post-transplantation compared with the non-transplanted FAH^−/− rabbit. Scale bars, 50 μm. G, right panel, hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining shows restoration of liver architecture (circled by dashed lines) in the same transplanted FAH^−/− rabbit at 3 months post-transplantation. Left panel, adjacent liver section of the transplanted FAH^−/− rabbit showing co-localization of areas with normal structure and positive FAH staining. Scale bars, 50 μm.