A new method for the isolation of fresh hepatocytes from periportal and pericentral regions of the liver lobule.

A simple method which avoids the use of perfusion with calcium free buffer, hydrolytic enzymes and detergents has been developed to obtain fresh hepatocytes from periportal and pericentral regions of the liver lobule. Cylindrical plugs (200 x 500 microns) of periportal and pericentral areas of the rat liver lobule weighing about 1 mg were collected with a micropunch from fresh or perfused liver. Ninety percent of cells were intact as assessed from trypan blue staining. Glutamine synthetase activity was detected predominantly (ca. 85%) in plugs isolated from pericentral regions indicating that this method allows selective harvesting of pure sublobular zones of the liver lobule. Rates of oxygen uptake measured at 25 degrees C by plugs from livers perfused in the anterograde direction were 56 +/- 5 and 33 +/- 7 mumol/g/h by periportal and pericentral plugs, respectively, values similar to data obtained from the intact organ. This method provides new opportunities to study the regulation of basic metabolic processes in cells from sublobular areas under nearly physiological conditions.