Periportal and perivenous hepatocytes retain their zonal characteristics in primary culture.

Periportal and perivenous hepatocytes from rat liver were isolated by combined digitonin-collagenase perfusion, and gluconeogenesis, urea synthesis and fatty acid synthesis was measured both in freshly isolated cells and in primary culture. A periportal zonation of gluconeogenesis and urea synthesis of about 3 and 1.5 fold, respectively, was observed. This zonation persisted unchanged for 23 hours in culture under identical conditions of incubation for periportal and perivenous cells. Fatty acid synthesis was not zonated.