Phosphatidylcholine metabolism in rat liver after partial hepatectomy. Evidence for increased activity and amount of CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase.

The effect of partial (70%) hepatectomy on phosphatidylcholine (PC) synthesis in rat liver was investigated during the first 4 post-operative days. Between 4 and 96 h after partial hepatectomy, the mass of PC increased from 30% to 80% of sham-operation values, being comparable with the restoration of total liver mass after partial hepatectomy. Relative to control (sham-operation), the incorporation in vivo of [3H]choline into PC was stimulated 2.6-fold at 22 h after partial hepatectomy. Moreover, CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (EC 2.7.7.15) activity was significantly enhanced, and the pool size of phosphocholine decreased at 22 and 48 h after partial hepatectomy, whereas the activity of choline kinase (EC 2.7.1.32) was augmented at a later stage of liver regeneration (48 and 96 h). Stimulation of CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase activity by partial hepatectomy occurred in both the microsomal and cytosolic fractions. The stimulatory effect in the cytosolic fraction was mainly due to an increase in the number of enzyme molecules, as demonstrated by immunotitration of the amount of cytosolic cytidylyltransferase protein.