Antigènes cellulaires transitoires du foie de rat. I. Sécrétion et synthèse des protéines sériques fetospécifiques au cours du développement et de la régénération hépatiques

Abstract

Transitory cell antigens of rat liver. I. The secretion and synthesis of fetospecific serum proteins during hepatic development and regeneration Changes in the serum concentration of albumin and α‐fetoprotein (αFP) from rat fetuses and newborns were followed by a quantitative immunoprecipitation method, using specific antisera. The concentration curves of the two proteins intersected between 1 and 2 weeks after birth. On the 32nd day, when the albumin concentration was almost at the adult level, no traces of αFP were detectable. Similarly, data have been obtained for the αFP concentration in amniotic fluid and sera from pregnant rats. Radioimmunodiffusion techniques were used to show the incorporation of radiolabelled compounds into several fetospecific and adult serum proteins during normal development as well as during compensatory regeneration after acute poisoning of the liver. When newborn rats and rats aged between 30 and 50 days are subjected to a series of injections of CCl 4 , one or several waves of αFP secretion are observed. The reappearance of αFP cannot be provoked by CCl 4 in rats older than 7 weeks. These facts suggest that the resurgence of αFP in hepatic injury of newborn rats and young rats is a consequence of the enhanced activity of some incompletely differentiated cell clones.