[Comparative study of organ cultures of human, rat, mouse and chick embryonic livers]

The organ cultures of the human, rat, mouse and chick embryonic liver were studied comparatively. Three developmental stages were established upon the long-term cultivation of the explants: adaptation of tissue, optimal growth, and terminal stage resulting in the culture death. The species and strain differences in the morphology and survival of the cultures were revealed. Foci of growth of small basophilic epithelial-like cells, differing from usual embryonic hepatocytes by morphology, growth pattern, survival and proliferative activity, were found in the organ cultures. The results obtained are interesting for the understanding of histogenesis of the normal liver and of mechanisms of hepatocarcinogenesis.