Inversion of the metabolic zonation of rat liver parenchyma by methapyrilene treatment.

Treatment with the antihistaminic agent methapyrilene led to a decrease of glucose-6-phosphatase activity and to an increase of glucose phosphorylating activity in the periportal zone of the liver acinus. However, the glucogenic capacity was maintained by a compensatory elevation of glucose-6-phosphatase and simultaneous reduction of hexokinase and glucokinase in the perivenous zone. The normal metabolic zonation with a glucogenic periportal and a glycolytic perivenous zone was not abolished but inverted by these alterations.