Abstract
In order to elucidate growth factors of the human fetal liver, intrahepatic portal blood supply and changes of liver weight of right and left lobes during the development were investigated with relation to development of portal organs, especially pancreatic islet, using 81 fetuses.
In the human fetal liver, the left lobe is supplied by the umbilical blood flow and the right lobe by the portal blood flow. When the fetus was at 3 months' pregnancy, liver weight of right lobe was about half that of left lobe. However, when the fetus was at 7 months' pregnancy, liver weight of both lobes was almost equal depending on marked increase of right lobe weight after 5 months' pregnancy, accompanied by development and maturation of the pancreatic islet, particularly of the B cell.
These results suggest that portal factors, including pancreatic hormones, accelerate the development of the human fetal liver, especially the right lobe.
