Expression of fibronectin and laminin in the rat liver after partial hepatectomy, during carcinogenesis, and in transplantable hepatocellular carcinomas.

The distribution in the F344 rat liver of two extracellular matrix and basement membrane components, fibronectin and laminin, was studied by immunofluorescence. Fibronectin was found diffusely in normal liver lining the sinusoids and in connective tissue surrounding blood vessels and bile ducts; laminin was present predominantly in the basement membranes of blood vessels and bile ducts and was only inconsistently seen lining the sinusoids. After partial hepatectomy (PH), there was a transient decrease of fibronectin in the central and midzone sinusoidal hepatic areas. This decrease was most marked on day 3 after the PH. Carcinogens caused marked changes in the distribution of fibronectin. Large extracellular deposits of fibronectin were seen in areas of oval cell proliferation in livers of rats treated with N-2-fluorenylacetamide (2-FAA) while being fed a choline-deficient diet. In contrast, the nodules that developed in these livers were almost completely devoid of fibronectin staining. Neoplastic nodules produced in rats by cyclic feedings of 2-FAA r by injections of diethylnitrosamine also contained little or no fibronectin. Laminin staining did not change markedly during these treatments, but increased staining was seen associated with the newly formed ductlike structures and oval cells in liver of rats treated with carcinogens. Transplantable hepatomas varied in their fibronectin staining from fibronectin-negative hepatomas to ones with fibronectin staining within or around every tumor cell. Laminin was only found around the vascular structures within the tumors. The presence or absence of fibronectin in hepatomas did not show an obvious correlation to growth rate or metastatic potential of the tumors studied.