Hypoxia preconditioning promotes the proliferation and migration of urine-derived stem cells in chronically injured liver of mice by upregulating CXCR4.

Our previous studies reported that urine-derived stem cells (USCs), possess a strong self-renewal ability and multi-directional differentiation potential and, thus are an ideal candidate cell source for hepatocellular transplantation. USC transplantation may repair the pathological changes of chronic liver injury to a certain extent, and hypoxia pretreatment may improve the recovery efficiency of USCs. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the possible mechanism of the improved recovery efficiency of hypoxia-pretreated USCs. A chronic liver injury model was established by intraperitoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride into nude mice. USCs were transplanted via caudal vein injection. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and Masson's staining were performed to determine the pathology of the liver. Immunofluorescence and frozen section biopsy were performed to determine differentiation and cell fusion in vivo. Cell co-culture was used to detect cell fusion in vitro. The proliferative ability of USCs was evaluated using cell viability and colony formation assays, and the migratory functions of USCs were evaluated using wound healing and Transwell assays. The degeneration of hepatocytes and the level of fibrosis in the hypoxia transplantation group was improved compared with the normoxia transplantation group. It was found that exogenous USCs may be differentiated into functional hepatocytes or fused with hepatocytes in vivo. C-X-C motif chemokine (CXC) ligand 12 (CXCL12) expression levels in liver tissue of the chronic liver injury model were upregulated compared with those in the control group. The expression of CXC receptor 4 (CXCR4) in hypoxia-pretreated USCs was also significantly upregulated. The results suggested that USCs fused with different types of liver cells and that hypoxia treatment promoted the fusion rate in vitro by upregulating CXCR4 signaling. Furthermore, hypoxia pretreatment promoted cell proliferation, migration and cell fusion by inducing CXCR4 signaling, leading to USC-elicited liver tissue recovery following injury in vivo.