The heterogeneity of hepatocytes during the postnatal development of the mouse.

Development of the hepatocyte heterogeneity was studied histochemically during the postnatal period. At birth ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OCT). succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and NADH dehydrogenase (NADHDH) activities were evenly distributed throughout the liver acinus. Slightly uneven distribution within the acinus appeared at 3 days after birth in SDH and at 4 days after birth in OCT and NADHDH, changing to that of adult type at 10 or 12 days after birth which is characterized by a marked difference in the activities between zone 1 and 3. However, in animals of all age groups studied, glycogen was decreased mainly in zone 1 and 2 after 6 or 10 h of fasting and glucose 6-phosphatase activity was markedly reduced or disappeared in zone 3 and often in zone 2 after carbon tetrachloride administration. The results show that so-called "functional and structural heterogeneity among hepatocytes" consists of at least two different components, that formed gradually during the postnatal development and that existing already at birth.