Experimental studies on the stem cell concept of liver regeneration. II

There is increasing evidence in support of the existence of a hepatic stem or progenitor cell system as well as its participation in the physiological as well as reparative regeneration of the liver and in carcinogenesis. In the present paper it will be demonstrated that under the condition of a simultaneous intoxication with allyl alcohol and tetrachlorcarbon a regenerative process occurs, which is composed of two distinct partial processes: 1. a "proliferative wave" of the persisting, non-necrotic differentiated hepatocytes of the acinus, starting at 24 h after intoxication and ending after >48 h, and 2. a proliferation of cells at the rim of the portal fields, which afterwards enter the acinus and differentiate into hepatocytes, starting at 48 h after intoxication. These results support the participation of a stem or progenitor cell system in the reparative regeneration of the liver.