A portal blood factor as the humoral agent in liver regeneration.

It was demonstrated, by use of extracorporeal cross-circulation, that a humoral factor responsible for liver regeneration does not arise from the liver remnant. While intact livers of normal rats incorporated [methyl-(3)H]- thymidine in proportion to the amount of liver removed in the partner, the greatest response occurred after a total hepatectomy. Evidence from portacaval-shunted,partially hepatectomized animals connected to normal members indicates that the factor is in portal blood and that the onset of regeneration is the result of a quantitative imbalance between the available portal blood factor and the number of liver cells present.