Ammonia-based enrichment and long-term propagation of zone I hepatocyte-like cells.

Ammonia has a cytotoxic effect and can therefore be used as a selection agent for enrichment of zone I hepatocytes. However, it has not yet been determined whether ammonia-treated hepatocyte-like cells are able to proliferate in vitro. In this study, we employed an ammonia selection strategy to purify hepatocyte-like cells that were differentiated from human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The resistance to cytotoxicity or cell death by ammonia is likely attributable to the metabolism of ammonia in the cells. In addition to ammonia metabolism-related genes, ammonia-selected hepatocytes showed increased expression of the cytochrome P450 genes. Additionally, the ammonia-selected cells achieved immortality or at least an equivalent life span to human pluripotent stem cells without affecting expression of the liver-associated genes. Ammonia treatment in combination with in vitro propagation is useful for obtaining large quantities of hepatocytes.

Data on the effect of knockout of cytohesin-1 in myelination-related protein kinase signaling.

Cytohesin-1 is the guanine-nucleotide exchange factor of Arf6, a small GTPase of Arf family, and participates in cellular morphological changes. Knockout mice of cytohesin-1 exhibit decreased myelination of neuronal axons in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) "Phosphorylation of cytohesin-1 by Fyn is required for initiation of myelination and the extent of myelination during development (Yamauchi et al., 2012) [1]". Herein we provide the data regarding decreased phosphorylation levels of protein kinases involved in two major myelination-related kinase cascades in cytohesin-1 knockout mice.