Dynamics of zonal hepatocyte heterogeneity. Perinatal development and adaptive alterations during regeneration after partial hepatectomy, starvation and diabetes.

The liver is the "glucostat" of the organism and serves at the same time as an "ammonia-sink and pH stat". The key enzymes involved in glucose uptake and release and in urea and glutamine formation are reciprocally distributed over the liver parenchyma: The glucogenic enzymes phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), fructosebisphosphatase (FBPase) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) as well as the ureagenic enzyme carbamoylphosphate synthetase (CAPS) are predominant in the periportal zone. The glycolytic enzymes glucokinase (GK) and pyruvate kinase type L (PKL) as well as the glutaminogenic enzyme glutamine synthetase (GluNS) are prevalent in the perivenous zone. This heterogeneity appears to be a prerequisite for the normal "glucostat, ammonia-sink and pH-stat" function of the liver. After birth the liver is a gluconeogenic organ, only with weaning it becomes a "glycolytic/gluconeogenic" glucostat. In the rat zonation of PEPCK, G6Pase and CAPS developed gradually after birth and was completed before weaning, i.e. before it would be functionally required. After 2/3 partial hepatectomy the liver looses its normal glucostat function and becomes a gluconeogenic organ. With this change the zonation of PEPCK and PKL were also lost; it was restored only during the second week after operation. During starvation the liver also looses its glucostat function to become the major glucose supplier of the organism. Zonation of PEPCK and PKL were diminished to such an extent that the major function of the perivenous zone was altered from glucose uptake to release. In diabetes the liver does not loose its glucostat function; however, the function is severely impaired. Zonation of PEPCK was increased and that of PKL decreased in such a manner that the major function of the perivenous zone, glucose uptake, was not entirely changed but only diminished. It can be concluded that in the various physiological states studied the zonation of enzymes correlated well with the glucostat function of the liver.