• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.399-406
• /
• 1996

Thioacetamide is a non-genotoxic carcinogen, a protein modifying agent. It causes nucleolar hypertrophy in short term treatment. In the present work, thioacetamide treated hepatocytes were observed in vivo and in vitro conditions. After 7 day treatment of rat liver with thioacetamide, the hepatocyte nucleoli were enlarged and their signalling molecules such as B23 and p38 MAPK were increased. When these hepatocytes were released by collagenases and were grown under the conditions of gene therapy grade tissue culture system, the enlarged nucleoli were further enlarged. The B23 content was again increased under in vitro conditions. From these experiments, it is clear that the hepatocytes possess approximately 100 fold flexibility of nucleolar capacity. It is suggested that thioacetamide enhances the ribosome genesis and exaggerates the nucleologenesis ability.