Liver regeneration in birds

Summary

Experiments were conducted on roosters aged 3 months. In the first series of tests the distal edge of the left lobe of the liver was removed at the level of its bifurcation, in the second, the distal edge of the right lobe, at the gall bladder level. The removed part constituted from 1/8 to 1/10 of the total weight of this organ.

A study was made of the histogenetic processes, and the changes in the shape of the liver during its restoration, for 3–90 days. Hepatic regeneration occurs in birds by the process of regenerative hypertrophy, i.e., enlargement of the size of the liver is caused by the proliferative processes in the remaining part of the organ. The initial shape of the liver is not restored. After removing the distal edge of the left lobe there occur insignificant proliferations of the parenchyma at the wound surface and hypertrophy of the process located at the dorsal side of the operated lobe, which may imitate the growth of the excised part of the lobe. No such phenomena were observed in operations on the right lobe.