DEVELOPMENT OF INTRAHEPATIC BILE DUCTS



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.
A portal field in normal liver with branches of portal bile duct, artery, portal vein. The row of hepatocytes immediately surrounding the field is the"ductal plate" containing the "stem cells" responsible for bile duct development and bile duct neogenesis.










CONTENTS | INTRAHEPATIC BILE DUCTS