Hereditary hepatitis in LEC rats: accumulation of abnormally high ploid nuclei

The LEC (Long-Evans with a cinnamon-like coat color) rat is a new mutant strain with hereditary hepatitis. The rate of DNA synthesis, the relative amounts of binucleated cells, and the polyploidizations of LEC hepatocytes have been analyzed. Markedly high polyploidy, such as 32n and 64n, were detected after manifestation of hepatitis; however, no aneuploidy was detected. Bi-, tri- and tetranucleated cells whose nuclei occasionally differed in size were observed after the manifestation of hepatitis. In addition to small hepatocytes and oval cells in the periportal area of the hepatic lobule, enlarged cells with huge nuclei were also labeled with BrdU, indicating that in LEC rats suffering from hepatitis abnormal mitosis may be relevant to high polyploidization and multinucleation. Polypeptide analysis using 2D-PAGE detected the apparent lack of expression of two polypeptides, p29.5 and p30, in LEC liver cells; however, linkage analysis indicated no correlation between these peptide defects and the manifestation of hepatitis.