Identification of biliprotein as a liver growth factor.

We determined the concentration of biliprotein in plasma of rats at different times after partial hepatectomy. From the same plasma samples, we purified a liver growth factor previously characterized by our group. When we plotted the 14 points studied, a linear relationship was obtained (r = 0.999; p less than 0.001). This result, in addition to our group's recent identification of this liver growth factor as an albumin-bilirubin complex, strongly suggests that biliprotein is a liver growth factor.