Vitamin A Content in the Regenerating Liver of Rats

¹ From the Department of Animal Husbandry, Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa

In three experiments, partial hepatectomy was performed on 42 male rats weighing about 200 gm each, with excision of about 70% by weight of the liver. Then they were killed 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 days after hepatectomy, respectively. The liver portion removed from each rat at the time of the operation was used as the corresponding control for the evaluation of change of the hepatic vitamin A content of the regenerating liver at killing. The concentration of the hepatic vitamin A decreased after partial hepatectomy. The decrease was about 30, 35 and 41%, at 1, 2 and 4 days, respectively, after the operation. Sixteen days after partial hepatectomy the average hepatic vitamin A concentration was 31% higher than the value at the time of operation. However, the value was much lower than that in the liver of the intact rat of the same age. Similar results were found when the partially hepatectomized rats were killed 21 days after operation. The vitamin A content in the kidneys of the operated rats also declined as the hepatic vitamin A decreased.