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L-Theanine-Treated Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Alleviate the Cytotoxicity Induced by N-Nitrosodiethylamine in Liver

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Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Aims and scope

Abstract

Background:

Liver inflammation is the main cause of severe liver diseases, including liver fibrosis, steatohepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Cell therapy topics are receiving increasingly more attention. The therapeutic applications of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have become one of the most discussed issues. While other stem cells have therapeutic effects, they have only one or two clinical applications. MSCs are responsible for repairing a variety of tissue injuries. Moreover, MSCs could be derived from several sources, including adipose tissue. MSCs are usually more abundant and easier to obtain compared to other stem cells.

Methods:

To prove the concept that MSCs have homing ability to the injured tissue and assist in tissue repair, we examined the effects of intravenous injected adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) in a N-nitrosodiethylamine (DEN)-induced liver injury rat model.

Results:

The significant repairing ability of ADSCs was observed. The levels of fibrosis, apoptosis, and tumorigenesis in the DEN-injured liver tissues all decreased after ADSC treatment. Furthermore, to enhance the therapeutic effects of ADSCs, we pretreated them with L-theanine, which promotes the hepatocyte growth factor secretion of ADSC, and therefore improved the healing effects on injured liver tissue.

Conclusion:

ADSCs, especially L-theanine-pretreated ADSCs, have anti-inflammation, anti-apoptosis, and anti-tumorigenesis effects on the N-nitrosodiethylamine-induced liver injury rat model.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Instrumentation Center (National Taiwan Normal University) for the image acquisition and flow cytometry analysis. This work was partly supported from MOST-106-2320-B-003-002 -MY3 (Dr. Chiang-Ting Chien), MOST-105-2320-B-003-007 (Dr. Yun-Ju Lai) and NTUS-innovation cooperation 10912041004 (Dr. Yun-Ju Lai).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

    Yun-Ju Lai, Yi-Ting Sung, Yi-An Lai, Li-Nian Chen, Tung-Sheng Chen & Chiang-Ting Chien

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  1. Yun-Ju Lai
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  3. Yi-An Lai
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Correspondence to Tung-Sheng Chen or Chiang-Ting Chien.

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Ethical statement

All surgical and experimental procedures were approved by National Taiwan Normal University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (Approval number 105035) and were in accordance with the guidelines of the National Science Council of Republic of China (NSC 1997).

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Lai, YJ., Sung, YT., Lai, YA. et al. L-Theanine-Treated Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Alleviate the Cytotoxicity Induced by N-Nitrosodiethylamine in Liver. Tissue Eng Regen Med 19, 1207–1221 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13770-022-00472-2

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