Fig. 1

Hepatic differentiation of human PSCs. The modified protocol of hepatic differentiation was distinct at four stages; definitive endoderm, hepatic endoderm, hepatic specification and hepatic maturation (a). Under this sequential induction condition, the development of QIA7 to hepatocytes was confirmed at each stage in the aspects of morphological changes (b) and expression of stage-specific marker genes (c) and proteins (d). The differentiated hepatocytes showed a typical hepatocyte-like shapes and glycogen synthesis at stage IV (e). hPSC human pluripotent stem cell, AFP alpha-fetoprotein, ALB albumin, BMP2 bone morphogenetic protein 2, CK18 cytokeratin 18, CXCR4 C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4, FGF4 fibroblast growth factor 4, FOXA2 forkhead box protein A2, GATA4, transcription factor GATA-4, HGF hepatocyte growth factor, HNF4A hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha, OCT4 octamer-binding transcription factor, OSM oncostatin M, PAS periodic acid Schiff, SOX17 sex determining region Y-Box 17