Activation of nuclear protooncogenes and alpha-fetoprotein gene in rat liver during the acute inflammatory reaction.

Nuclear protooncogene and alpha-fetoprotein gene expression is stimulated in hepatocytes during liver regeneration and by various growth factors in vitro. Metabolic adaptation of hepatocytes has been implicated in such gene reprogrammation. We examine here whether induction of an acute inflammation, a physiological situation of important metabolic adjustments, also triggers activation of nuclear oncogenes and of the AFP gene in rat liver. C-fos, c-jun and c-myc mRNA accumulated on Northern blots between 4-12 h of inflammation and the steady-state level of two small alpha-fetoprotein transcripts characteristic of the adult liver increased at 4 h and 24 h of inflammation. In situ hybridization showed accumulation of the mRNA of the four genes studied in all hepatocytes, without any zonal lobular heterogeneity. 3H-histoautoradiography and mitotic counts indicated an inhibition of DNA synthesis and mitosis, prolonged for at least 48 h after inflammation. Thus acute inflammation triggers the activation of nuclear protooncogenes and alpha-feto-protein gene in hepatocytes, but this activation is not followed by passage into the replicative cycle.