Zonal changes in the rat liver following an acute dose of phenobarbitone: an ultrastructural, morphometric and biochemical correlation

Liver injuries induced by cyclochlorotine isolated from Penicillium islandicum

Sequential morphological changes in murine liver induced by cyclochlorotine (CC), a secondary metabolite of Penicillium islandicum were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Within 15 min after the administration of CC there was a marked dilatation of Disse's space around the portal triads, and the exudates then poured out into the space which was formed by the invagination of the hepatocyte plasma membrane. Shortly after the invagination was completed, the connection between Disse's space and the invaginated space was pinched off, so that this space became a membrane-bound vacuole. After dehydration, the vacuoles became granular. The liver injuries induced by CC were influenced by various pretreatments. The results indicate that drug-metabolizing systems mediated by cytochrome p-450 in the hepatocytes may play an important role in the hepatotoxicity of CC.

NADP-dependent dehydrogenases in rat liver parenchyma. III. The description of a liponeogenic area on the basis of histochemically demonstrated enzyme activities and the neutral fat content during fasting and refeeding

The activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase(6PGDH), malic enzyme (ME) and isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDh) were investigated with optimized histochemical methods (Rieder it al 1978), and the activity of 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (3HBDH) and neutral fat content with conventional techniques in the liver of male rats under the following experimental dietary conditions: (A) Fasting for 0, 12 and 84h; (B) 84-h fasting followed by refeeding with a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for 6 h and for 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 and 14 nights; (C) refeeding with standard diet for 5 nights; (D) low-fat high-carbohydrate diet for 7 an 14 nights. The activities of G6PDH, 6PGDH and ME decreased slightly during fasting primarily in zone 1 and increased dramatically on refeeding with a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. This activity increase was confined mainly to zone 3 during the first 3 days and was accompanied by a deposition of neutral fats that began in zone 3 and progressed to zone 1. Neutral for accumulation was maximal after 3 nights, with a uniform accumulation of large droplets in all the hepatocytes; this was followed by a release that started in zone 3 and proceeded in a periportal direction. On the other hand, G6PDH, 6PGDH and ME attained their maximum activities after 5 amd 7 nights of low-fat diet, the activities being nearly homogeneously distributed over the liver acinus in a few cases. Subsequently the activities fill mainly in zone 1, causing the activity patterns and levels to approach those of the animals in group (D). In contrast to this, the activity of ICDH increased during fasting principally in zone 1, so that the otherwise steep activity gradient in favor of zone 3 lessened. Refeeding led at first to a fall of activity below the initial value, but later the normal distribution pattern was restored. The activity of 3HBDH showed a behavior similar to that of ICDH. The findings are discussed with reference to the functional heterogeneity of the liver parenchyma, and the existence of a liponeogenic area in zone 3 is proposed.