Zonation of glycogen and glucose syntheses, but not glycolysis, in rat liver.

We have investigated the cause of defective glycogen synthesis in hepatocyte preparations enriched with cells from the periportal or perivenous zones obtained by the methods of Lindros & Penttila [Biochem. J. (1985) 228, 757-760] and of Quistorff [Biochem. J. (1985) 229, 221-226]. A modified procedure which yields hepatocytes capable of consistent rates of glycogen synthesis is described, and the rates of glucose and glycogen syntheses and of glycolysis in hepatocytes from the two zones are compared. Glycogen synthesis in cells was greatly impaired by very low concentrations (0.01-0.05 mg/ml) of digitonin, which had little effect on glucose and protein syntheses and Trypan Blue exclusion. Cells exposed to such low concentrations of digitonin lose all their synthetic capacity and ability to exclude Trypan Blue when incubated with EGTA, which does not affect cells not exposed to digitonin. With a modified procedure based on this phenomenon, our study reveals that hepatocyte preparations enriched with cells from the periportal zone synthesized glucose from lactate and alanine at rates twice those by cells from the perivenous zone, whereas the rate of glycogen synthesis from C3 precursors in periportal cells was 4 times that in the perivenous preparations. With substrates entering the pathway at the triose phosphate level, gluconeogenesis in periportal-cell preparations was 20% higher, and glycogen synthesis was twice that in perivenous preparations. Glycolysis was studied by the formation of 3HOH from [2-3H]glucose, the yield of lactate, and the conversion of [14C]glucose into [14C]lactate. In cell preparations from both zones glycolysis by all criteria was negligible at 10 mM-glucose, but was substantial at higher concentrations. However, there was no difference between the zones. We confirm that the capacities for glucose and glycogen syntheses in periportal cells are higher than in perivenous cells, but that at physiological glucose concentrations there is negligible glycolysis in liver parenchyma in both zones. The metabolic pattern in the perivenous cells is not glycolytic.