Generation of Hepatocytes from Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Human embryonic stem cells (HESCs) are pluripotent cells having a self-renewal capacity. These unique characteristics of HESCs allow them to be an unlimited source of cells that was shown to differentiate into many cell types, among them hepatocytes. The creation of hepatocytes in culture will allow us to further understand the mechanisms involved in the embryogenesis of hepatocytes in humans and to study pathologies related to aberrant differentiation of these cells. The resultant hepatocytes may serve as a source of cells for transplantation and as cells for toxicological studies and drug screening. In the past 10 years, since the derivation of HESCs, various protocols for the differentiation of HESCs to hepatic-like cells were published. In this chapter we detail our protocol for differentiating HESCs into hepatic-like cells through embryoid bodies. We further describe the method for the genetic labeling of the hepatic-like cells derived from the HESCs and their isolation by fluorescence-activated cell sorter. We also summarize the published protocols for differentiation of HESCs into hepatic-like cells.