Analysis by flow cytometry of rat hepatocytes from different acinar zones

Many functional, morphological and biochemical differences among hepatocytes from different acinar zones have been described. Therefore, it will facilitate studies on liver metabolism rapid, non-destructive procedures to isolate hepatocytes from these zones. Flow cytometry is a new powerful tool which, however, has not been used thus far to accomplish the separation of hepatocytes from different acinar zones. We describe here various cytometric parameters which characterize hepatocyte populations, separated by isopycnic centrifugation in Percoll gradients. The intraacinar origin of the different hepatocytes was assessed by enzymatic and morphological measurements.