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Effect of Exchange Transfusion on Labeling of Nuclei with Thymidine-³H and on Mitosis in Hepatocytes of Normal and Regenerating Rat Liver¹

Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, and U. S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, San Francisco, California

Exchange transfusion of blood (75–80% replacement of blood of recipient animals) was used to study the effect of blood-borne influences on nuclear labeling with thymidine-³H and on occurrence of mitosis in hepatocytes of rat liver. Intact or shamhepatectomized rats and partially hepatectomized rats were: (a) not transfused, (b) transfused with blood from rats with intact livers, or (c) transfused with blood from rats with partly excised livers. Partially hepatectomized or sham-hepatectomized rats were transfused once or twice (consecutively) at intervals after operation. Nonhepatectomized rats were transfused at equivalent times before they were killed.

Transfusion had the following effects on labeling of nuclei and on occurrence of mitosis in hepatocytes: (a) no change in rats with intact livers transfused with blood from donor rats with either intact or partly excised livers, (b) depression or delay in partially hepatectomized rats transfused with blood from donor rats with intact livers (delay prolonged by 2 consecutive transfusions), and (c) a variable depression or delay in partially hepatectomized rats transfused with blood from partially hepatectomized donor rats (the extent of depression of the peak rate of nuclear labeling normally occurring at 24 hr after hepatectomy was directly related to the mass of residual liver in donor rats). Ability of transfused blood to delay hepatocytic nuclear labeling was lost rapidly after partial hepatectomy of donor rats and reappeared at a rate corresponding to regrowth of residual liver. To maximally delay nuclear labeling of hepatocytes in partially hepatectomized rats, exchange of blood had to occur between 6 and 12 hr after hepatectomy.

¹ This investigation was supported in part by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, U. S. Navy and in part by USPHS Research Grants AM-07568 and 5T1 GM897. Opinions contained herein are those of the authors and are not to be construed as official views of the Department of Defense.

² John and Mary R. Markle Scholar in Academic Medicine.

Received 9/15/65. Revised 1/12/66.