Stem cells responsible for tissue maintenance and repair are found in a number of organs.
However, hepatic stem cells assumed to play a key role in liver development and
regeneration remain to be well characterized. To address this issue, we set up a culture
system in which primitive hepatic progenitor cells formed colonies. By combining this culture
system with fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), cells forming colonies containing
distinct hepatocytes and cholangiocytes were identified in the fetal mouse liver. These cells …