Quantification of Clonal Expansion of Hepatocytes in Normal and Injured Liver.

A fundamental part of understanding how a tissue regenerates is how individual cells that make up the tissue divide. This protocol describes a method to label a random and representative sampling of hepatocytes throughout the mouse liver and quantify their cell division and clonal expansion during homeostasis and after liver injury. Clonal expansion is quantified through 3D imaging, which has improved accuracy over 2D imaging. This information can be used to answer questions such as which hepatocytes contribute to hepatocyte renewal during homeostasis and during regeneration after injury, as well as how much individual hepatocytes in the different zones of the liver divide.