Mitomycin C-induced acceleration of liver cell polyploidization in adult rat after partial hepatectomy

Mitomycin C, a DNA cross-linking agent, was administered for a week intraperitoneally to a normal 9-week-old rat in which hepatocyte proliferative activity had almost ceased. In the rat treated with mitomycin C, the number of polyploid cells with the DNA amounts more than 4C was not increased in comparison with that in the control rat without any treatment. However, the partial hepatectomy in the rat pretreated with mitomycin C provoked prominent hepatocyte polyploidization much greater in degree than that found in the hepatectomized rat without mitomycin C treatment. These results seem to indicate that the existence of cross-linking DNA damages is a latent factor necessary for the induction of abortive mitosis of a cell after completion of DNA synthesis, which results in the production of a mononuclear polyploid cell in one-step higher DNA class. Cross-linking DNA damages and DNA synthesis are the essential factors for the manifestation of polyploidization.