Liver Regeneration and Cytochrome c Metabolism. Influence of Amount of Tissue Excised and of Diet, With A Note on Accompanying Changes in Liver Nucleic Acids.

摘要

In a previous communication from this laboratory (2), partial hepatectomy or liver lobectomy in the rat was introduced as a quantitative metabolic technique in the study of cytochrome C. The removal of liver substance may be regarded as a depletion stimulus to the ensuing proliferative process, affording an opportunity for the quantitative study not only of the appearance or production of substances of metabolic interest in the regenerating tissue, hut also of the restorative process itself. The rate of appearance of new cytochrome c in the regenerating liver was thus determined during a restoration (postoperative) period of 14 days. For historical information, details of the liver lobectomy and the high degree of reproducibility of ratios of lobe weight to total liver mass, reference may be made to the earlier paper. In a continuation of this work, the influence of a number of factors upon cytochrome C metabolism and liver restoration has been studied. Among the factors investigated and reported here are the effect of the amount of liver excised, the role of dietary protein (no protein and high protein diet), and the influence of length of duration of the restoration period. In the following paper results will be presented upon the effect of oxygen deprivation (anoxia, induced by simulated high altitude), and on the influence of injection of cytochrome C prior to liver lobectomy and during active tissue restoration. The experimental evidence suggests that cytochrome C is an important component in the regenerative process.