Heterogeneous distribution of conjugation activities of harmol in isolated rat liver cells

The regional distribution of the conjugation reaction activities of harmol was examined in isolated rat liver cells fractionated to the centrilobular and periportal regions. The heterogeneous distribution in the conjugation rates per unit cell numbers was found only in glucuronidation. The difference in the metabolic intrinsic clearance per total cell numbers in each region was mainly due to the cell numbers, resulting that the metabolic abilities in both reactions are higher in the periportal region than the centrilobular region. This finding in sulfate conjugation is consistent with the results in the isolated perfused liver previously presented by other investigators but the result that in glucuronide conjugation is contradictory to them.