Intrahepatic Bile Duct |
Fig 7 - Intrahepatic bile ducts appear to develop from primitive hepatocytes of the periportal limiting plate. These smaller hepatocytes indeed:
- contain more cytokeratin 8 and 18 than mature hepatocytes.
- retain keratin 19 which disappeares from mature hepatocytes.
- acquire cytokeratin 7 around the 20th week of gestation which is not acquired by mature hepatocytes.
- these same "stem cells" may be regenerating hepatocytes.
Keratins 7 and 19 are phenotypic markers of bile ducts. Bile duct neogenesis originates from "ductal plates" in cholestatic pathologic conditions of the adult. |