Rapeseed diet and hepatocyte hypertrophy: an experimental morphometric study.

A previous study suggested that a rapeseed diet induced hepatocellular hypertrophy in normal albino rats. In the present study morphometry confirmed that a rapeseed diet produces hepatocytic hypertrophy which, according to cytological findings, is primarily due to an increase in the cytoplasmic area. A combination of a rapeseed diet and the administration of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) also led to hepatocellular hypertrophy but the histological picture of the cirrhosis was similar to the one in control animals receiving CCl4 alone. The fact that the hypertrophy was primarily due to organelles supports the idea that a component or components of the rapeseed may modify protein turnover in the parenchyma of the liver.