Fig. 4

iHepL perform basal hepatocyte functions and express markers of bipotential hepatic progenitors. a Indocyanine green and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining of hepatic progenitor-like (iHepL) cells and mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF). b PAS staining of iHepL treated with glucagon for 0, 1.5, 3, and 6 h. c PAS staining of iHepL cultured in glucose-free medium for 0, 3, and 6 h. d, e Total mRNA was extracted from MEF or iHepL cells and the expression of typical cholangiocyte (d) and hepatic-progenitor (e) markers was assessed by qRT-PCR and represented as relative gene expression normalized to total mouse liver. Data are represented as mean ± SD from iHepL cells (n = 6; three infections and two biological replicates each) and MEF (n = 3). Student’s t test was performed between iHepL and the other groups and statistical significance was p < 0.001 in all cases. f Representative fluorescence images of iHepL, HepG2, and MEF immunostained for Lgr5 and Hnf1a. No differences were observed between the iHepL pool or clones 2, 6, and 15 (Additional file 1: Figure S5). Nuclei were stained with DAPI