A single‐cell transcriptomic analysis reveals precise pathways and regulatory mechanisms underlying hepatoblast differentiation
Li Yang, Wei‐Hua Wang, Wei‐Lin Qiu, Zhen Guo, Erfei Bi, Cheng‐Ran Xu – 6 July 2017 – How bipotential hepatoblasts differentiate into hepatocytes and cholangiocytes remains unclear. Here, using single‐cell transcriptomic analysis of hepatoblasts, hepatocytes, and cholangiocytes sorted from embryonic day 10.5 (E10.5) to E17.5 mouse embryos, we found that hepatoblast‐to‐hepatocyte differentiation occurred gradually and followed a linear default pathway. As more cells became fully differentiated hepatocytes, the number of proliferating cells decreased.