OKSANEN, AILI: The liver cells in acute starvation and ref eed- ing. An experimental histoquantitative st11dy on mice. Acta vet. scand. 1972, 13, 218--227. -A series of 52 young male white laboratory mice were starved for a maximum of five days, and 45 normally fed animals were used as controls. A group of ex.Perimental animals and a corresponding control group were sacrificed after two, three, and four days' starvation and after six, 12 and 17 days' refeeding. Even after two days the animals

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... d lost weight, and the liver cells had diminished highly significantly. A return to the initial values was noted after 12 days' refeeding. In the experimental animals a strong negative correlation was noted between the cell count per field and body weight (r = ---0.712, b = -7.52'()), while no such correlation was observed for the controls. The volume of the liver cells was reduced by 61.7 %, the volume of their nuclei by 16.2 % after four days' starvation. After two to three days' starvation the liver cells often showed a slight accumulation of fat. Mitoses were frequent in the liver cells during the stage of regeneration, when the cells had attained the same size as in the controls. starvation; liver; mitosis; ref e e ding.