The quantitative distinction of hyperplasia from hypertrophy in hepatomegaly induced in the rat liver by phenobarbital.

A histological method utilizing the optical dissector principle has been developed for determining the absolute numbers of rat hepatocytes in the liver after treatment with phenobarbital (PB). The optical dissector is a technique derived from the "new stereology" used to measure the number of features, in this case hepatocyte nuclear profiles, that are present in a reference volume of tissue. The method has been applied to distinguish between the hepatomegaly that commonly occurs in rodents after treatment with chemicals, due to an increase in the number of cells caused by cell division (hyperplasia), rather than the size of cells (hypertrophy). In the case of PB treatment, the hepatomegaly was found to be partly due to hypertrophy and partly to hyperplasia after 2 weeks of treatment. While the increase in the absolute number of hepatocytes was not significant after 2 weeks, after 12 weeks of treatment with PB the number of hepatocytes was significantly increased, compared to the controls at that time point. PCNA labeling index measurements of liver hepatocytes confirmed that there was a significant increase in the growth fraction of hepatocytes during PB treatment. The induction of hyperplasia can be associated with an increased risk of eventual liver tumor formation, and the distinction of hyperplasia from hypertrophy, using a purely histological method, for the determination of increases in absolute hepatocyte cell numbers, will be useful in assessing whether treatment-related sustained hyperplasia is occurring in the liver, although this methodology could be applied to any organ.