[Effects of mitochondrial lipoperoxidation on liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy of the cirrhotic rat liver].

Lipoperoxide levels in mitochondrial fraction and mitochondrial respiratory activity during hepatic regeneration were studied serially in normal (N) and cirrhotic (C) rats following one-third (I) or two-third (II) partial hepatectomy. Recovery of liver weight after 14 days was about 90% in each group except C-II group, in which it was 71.3%. ATP synthetic activity (ATP-S) was always higher in N-II group than N-I which reached maximum on the first postoperative day (POD) and returned to the preoperative levels on the 14th POD. Lipoperoxide peak value of N-II group was obtained sooner than that of N-I group, in addition the peak value of N-II group was higher than that of the N-I group. ATP-S of C-II group reached maximum levels on the third POD and thereafter decreased progressively. In contrast, ATP-S of C-I group returned to preoperative level on the 14th POD. Peak lipoperoxide levels were obtained on the first POD in both groups, but that of C-II group was 1.6 times higher than that of C-I. Moreover, it was observed that inhibition of lipoperoxidation by alpha-tocopherol administration improved respiratory activity significantly. From these results it can be said that hepatectomy-induced lipoperoxidation in massive resection of the cirrhotic liver may inhibit activation of mitochondrial respiration and hepatic regeneration.