Periodic acid-Schiff staining method for function detection of liver cells is affected by 2% horse serum in induction medium

Developing a thorough understanding of experimental methods of hepatic differentiation in hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) should expand the knowledge of hepatocyte induction in vitro and may help to develop cell transplantation therapies for the clinical usage of HPCs in liver diseases. A previous induction method effectively induced differentiation and metabolic abilities in HPCs. Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining is used to identify glycogen synthesis and hepatocyte function; however, this method failed to detect induced hepatocytes. The present study aimed to investigate the possible factors affecting the previous confusing results of PAS staining. Removal of single induction factors, including dexamethasone, hepatic growth factor and fibroblast growth factor 4 from the induction media did not restore PAS staining, whereas replacement of 2% horse serum (HS) with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) significantly increased the number of PAS positive cells. Following 12 days of basal induction, replacing the induction medium with media containing 10% FBS for 12–72 h significantly improved PAS staining, but did not influence indocyanine green uptake. Furthermore, incubation in induction medium with 10% FBS following 12 days of normal induction did not affect the expression of hepatic markers and mature function of HPCs. Therefore, the present study suggested that 2% HS in the induction medium did not affect the hepatic function of induced cells, but did affect glycogen storage, whereas replacement of medium with 10% FBS in advance of PAS staining may restore the failure of PAS staining in low serum concentrations of induced hepatocytes.