Functional implications of liver cell heterogeneity
Functional implications of liver cell heterogeneity
复制标题
肝细胞异质性的功能意义
DOI：
10.1016/0016-5085(81)90732-0
复制
发表时间：
1981
期刊：
影响因子：
29.4
通讯作者：
Deborah L. Miller
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
J. Gumucio;Deborah L. Miller
Some of the functions of the liver, such as the uptake, metabolism, synthesis, and biliary secretion of compounds have generally been studied either at the level of the entire organ or at the intracellular level. Actually, many of these experiments have started with a well-prepared liver homogenate, from which many of the biochemical characteristics of hepatocytes have been defined. The liver cell, however, functions within the environment of a microvascular unit, the hepatic acinus, which provides conditions for cell heterogeneity. The distribution of blood flow is such that the progressive removal of solutes between the acinar inlet and outlet will generate solute concentration gradients in sinusoidal blood as well as cellular concentration gradients between hepatocytes. The contribution of acinar hepatocytes to the transport and metabolism of compounds will thus be different depending on the geographic location of the cells with respect to the incoming blood. In addition, the existence of intrinsic cellular differences among the various acinar zones will also modify the zonal contribution to these functions. Within this context, liver function can be seen as the overall expression of intracellular events occurring with different intensity in each cellular zone of this microvascular unit. The danger of overlooking the fact that hepatocytes function within the framework of a functional and structural unit has been clearly expressed by Wilson:“In the thinking of biochemists and physiologists, and sometimes of cytologists, the liver cell has become dangerously near of being The Cell, the typical cell, and with good reason, because
