Tokyo ? Researchers at Okayama University’s graduate school have succeeded in creating an artificial liver from embryonic stem cells and improving the condition of mice with liver failure by implanting it.

The research is expected to help improve devices for patients with lowered liver functions from hepatitis or other diseases.

The group has published its findings in the electronic edition of the science journal Nature Biotechnology.

The researchers cultured a mouse’s stem cells together with human liver vascular cells and liver cell growth factors and succeeded in changing as many as 70 percent of the stem cells into liver cells.

The group also developed an artificial liver in the form of a small bag about 1.5 centimeters square by using special film that can transport blood components, in cooperation with Kyoto University’s Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences.

When the group transplanted bags containing liver cells made from stem cells into 10 mice who had 90 percent of their livers removed, nine mice survived for more than 12 days. A protein unique to the liver was produced and detoxifying functions recovered.

Naoya Kobayashi, an assistant at Okayama University’s Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, said the bag can last a long time if the liver cells are replaced, and the technology has a broad application range.