Abstract: Objective To research the effect of time and dosage of offering HGF and EGF comprised of different concentration, which can establish foundation of fundamental and clinical research for liver disease. Methods Hepatic stem cells isolated from portal vein perfusion were cultivated by serum-free medium to observe the effect of HGF and EGF of different concentration and time on proliferation of hepatic stem cell in rat. Results Hepatic stem cells from adult rat have small volume and its outline form and nucleus were round or oval-shape. Proliferation effect in 5—160 ng/ml EGF group and 10-160 ng/ml HGF group was significantly stronger, compared with control (P＜0.05); and when HGF was to 20 ng/ml, its effect was the most obvious (P＜0.01); In all HGF added with EGF(10 ng/ml) groups, except for 1、5 ng/ml group，proliferation effect were greater than control (P＜0.01). In time proliferation effect of hepatic cell treated with HGF (20 ng/ml), with the time prolongation, there exsited manifest effect and was up to the peak at the fifth day; at the seventh day, there happened little decrease. For the time proliferation effect with EGF (10 ng/ml), there emerged the peak at the seventh day. There was no difference at the fifth and seventh day. Proliferation effect of HSC combinated with 20 ng/ml HGF and 10 ng/ml EGF showed that there was not obvious change at the first day; and was up to the peak at the third day. Conclusion There was manifest improvement for the hepatic stem cells cultured by serum-free of SD mouse treated with EGF and HGF. There existed synergistic effect between two factors for the hepatic stem cell proliferation in vitro.

Key words: Hepatocyte Growth Factor, Epidermal Growth Factor, Hepatic stem cell, proliferation