Commentary
See article on page 816Small fry starting to make waves
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The liver, perhaps because of its crucial role in metabolism
and detoxification of many potentially hazardous xenobiotics, has
evolved not one but three stem cell populations. The one that usually
operates is the hepatocyte population itself. Hepatocytes were formerly
(and incorrectly) considered to have a limited division potential
because only 2-3 rounds of cell division occurred after a two thirds
partial hepatectomy but this was all that was required to restore liver
mass! However, their full division potential has been unmasked through
the study of models of hepatocyte transplantation, and they fully
deserve the appellation of "functional stem cells" with at least
some of them being capable of in excess of 100 divisions. A second
population comes into play when either hepatocyte regeneration is
compromised after injury or when parenchymal damage is particularly severe. If we did not already know it, rats and humans are different and this extends to the
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