Procarcinogen activation and hormonal control of cell proliferation in differentiated primary adult rat liver cell cultures

Abstract

CONCERTED interactions among hormones and nutrients control animal cell proliferation¹. For example, in the rat, insulin, glucagon, glucocorticoid, parathyroid hormone, iodothyronines and amino acids regulate normal hepatic proliferation—a prominent system for studying epithelial cell growth control². Endocrine and nutritional factors also modify the efficiency with which chemicals produce experimental tumours in these animals notably, the induction of hepatomas by aromatic amines⁸. We report here observations with a novel primary monolayer adult rat liver culture system which may prove helpful towards studying these interactions under defined conditions⁴. These cells proliferate in response to hormones and nutrients; they maintain differentiated hepatic functions such as albumin and arginine biosynthesis for at least 8–10 days after plating; and they metabolise the procarcinogen N-2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF) into a proximate form, N-hydroxy-AAF (ref. 5).