Growth stimulation and apoptosis induced in cultures of neonatal rat liver cells by repeated exposures to epidermal growth factor/urogastrone with or without associated pancreatic hormones.

In untreated primary cultures of neonatal rat liver kept in high-calcium (1.8 mmol/l), foetal bovine serum (10% v/v)- containing minimal essential medium (FBS-MEM), the absolute numbers of hepatocytes did not change between day 4 and day 9 because ongoing cell loss was counterbalanced by proliferation of a discrete sub-population of the cells. By contrast, the number of stromal cells increased linearly with time. Growth of hepatocytes and stromal cells was differently affected by the daily addition, between day 4 and day 8 of culture, of fresh medium to which peptide mitogen(s) in concentrations ranging from 10(-14) to 10(-8) mol/l had been added. Epidermal growth factor/urogastrone (EGF/URO) with or without equimolar mixtures of glucagon and insulin, induced first hyperplasia of hepatocytes and stromal cells and then apopotosis (degeneration and death) of the progeny of the stimulated cells. By contrast, equimolar mixtures of glucagon and insulin caused a progressive increase in the number of hepatocytes and stromal cells unbalanced by any increase in cell death. At subphysiological concentrations glucagon, in synergism with EGF/URO and/or some other unknown heat-stable component of serum, acted as a trophic factor for hepatocytes. By contrast, insulin alone did not enhance growth of hepatocytes, but rather blocked the mitogenic effects of EGF/URO. The three hormones exerted neither mitogenic nor apoptotic effects when administered in a low calcium (0.01 mmol/l) FBS-MEM medium. These results reveal that EGF/URO may control the size of cell populations in neonatal liver by calcium-dependent mechanisms that make it unlikely to be a promoter of hepatocyte tumours. They also show that glucagon acts as a positive trophic regulator for hepatocytes.