The net weight of the rabbit liver and its relevance for asialoglycoprotein clearance

The net weight of the liver was established in 144 rabbits from isotopic determination of the quantity of residual blood in the hepatic vascular bed. Residual blood was proportional to the liver weight, amounting to 16.9% of the gross liver weight in animals that had not been exsanguinated. Net liver weights were a linear function of the body weight in the range from 0.9 kg to 5.8 kg. However, this was not true for rabbits aging 10-12 weeks where one liver out of four exhibited marked overweight due to the presence of excess quantities of metabolites. Changes in the composition of the body that accompany sexual maturation are thought to be responsible for this phenomenon. Plasma membrane function of differently sized livers was compared by determinations of the maximal hepatic clearance of a glycoprotein possessing terminal galactosyl residues (chicken alpha 1-acid glycoprotein). Results showed the clearance function to be unaffected by storage-related fluctuations in net liver weight over a two-fold range.