Hepatic stem cells and their enzymatic markers-A review

Stem cells are those cells which show capacity for self-renewal and ability to give rise to multiple differentiated cellular populations. Enzymatic activity, as a marker for cell proliferation and cell viability, is used by metabolic activity assays. Liver stem cells/progenitor cells can be a useful source of liver treatment. They can repopulate and restore injured liver. Fetal liver stem/progenitor cells have been found to be more capable in this, but are subjected to ethical issues. Adult liver stem cells and stem cells from animals can be used. Alkaline phosphatase and lactate dehydrogenase are enzymatic markers of in vitro hepatocyte culture. During in vitro cell culture, in the culture medium, secreted alkaline phosphatase activity increases during exponential growth of cells, whereas low extracellular lactate dehydrogenase activity indicates increased number of viable cells. Alkaline phosphatase and lactate dehydrogenase activities can be used to assess hepatocytes proliferation in vitro.