NUTRITION AND CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER,
Abstract
Studies were made of the regenerative response of liver cells following acute obstruction of the common bile duct of the rat. Parabiotic rats were prepared to determine whether in animals joined in parabiosis the stimulus to liver cell proliferation could be transmitted from a rat with biliary obstruction to its nonoperated partner, and whether regenerative and other changes in the liver of a rat with bile duct obstruction would be modified through parabiotic union with a normal rat. Thymidine-H3 and autoradiographs were used to detect and quantitate nuclei synthesizing deoxyribonucleic acid. Common duct obstruction in a rat joined to a normal rat resulted in less liver degeneration and necrosis, less liver cell proliferation, and less elevation of the total serum bilirubin than in single rats with obstruction. The nonoperated partner exhibited slight elevation of serum bilirubin, no consistent change in hepatic thymidine-H3 uptake, and no change in hepatic cell mitosis. It was considered probable that liver cell proliferation following common bile duct obstruction was due to damage to liver cells by mechanical factors, together with the effects of retention of bilirubin and/or other components of bile. This effect was not transmissible between parabiotic animals. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 21, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0427905
Entities
People
- G. Kenneth Mallory
- Richard A. Macdonald
Organizations
- Harvard University