Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Human Liver Spheroids from Peripheral Blood for Liver Disease Studies
Published on: January 27, 2023
Sex and the liver - a journey through five decades
Agneta Mode1, Jan-Ake Gustafsson
1Department of Medical Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Novum, Huddinge, Sweden. agneta.mode@mednut.ki.se
Abstract:
Metabolism of steroids and drugs in rodents is sexually differentiated. The reason for this turned out to be the sexually differentiated growth hormone (GH) secretory pattern regulating the expression of a number of hepatic cytochrome P-450 genes. Although not fully resolved, it is clear that several signaling pathways and transcription factors are involved in mediating the effects of GH. It may be argued that such a well-controlled physiological system should have an important biological role and we speculate that the demands of a robust hepatic steroid metabolism during pregnancy has led to the development of this sexually differentiated hypothalamo-pituitary-liver axis.
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