Patent ID: 7456017

Claim:
A method of propagating primary bipotent hepatic progenitors without inducing their differentiation comprising: (a) obtaining liver tissue; (b) obtaining a single cell suspension therefrom; (c) isolating from the single cell suspension those cells that are MHC class Ia negative, MHC class Ib dull, and positive for ICAM, alpha-fetoprotein, albumin, and cytokeratin-19, to obtain a population of primary bipotent hepatic progenitors having the capacity to differentiate into a hepatocyte or a biliary cell in vitro from the single cell suspension of liver tissue; and (d) culturing the primary bipotent hepatic progenitors on a layer comprising embryonic feeder cells in the presence of a culture medium essentially free of both serum and epidermal growth factor (EGF) in which the culturing propagates the primary bipotent hepatic progenitors without inducing their differentiation.