Comparative studies of some functional and morphological parameters in the livers of germfree, conventional and ex-germfree mice.

Some parameters of hepatic function and morphology were studied to compare germfree (GF) and conventional (CV) BALB/c mice. The levels of lipid peroxide (LPO) and aniline-hydroxylase (AH) activity in the livers and the serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and phospholipid (PL) were significantly lower in GF than in CV 8-week-old mice. There were no significant differences in the histology and lectin-histochemistry of the livers in the GF and CV mice. On the other hand, in ex-GF mice which were induced by housing 4-week-old GF mice together with age-matched CV mice, the levels of LPO and AH activity in the liver and the serum TC, TG and PL contents increased rapidly within the first week and then approached values almost identical to those in CV mice 4 weeks later (i.e. at 8 weeks of age). The histologic picture of the liver was similar among the GF, CV and ex-GF mice.