Functional Differences between Periportal and Perivenous Kupffer Cells Isolated by Digitonin-Collagenase Perfusion

Introduction Liver injury commonly appears in a zonated fashion within the liver acinus. Thus many hepatotoxins primarily damage the perivenous (centrilobular, PV) region [1]. It is now well established that Kupffer cells (KCs) play a crucial role as initiators and mediators of the inflammatory process in the liver through the release of inflammatory and immunomodulatory mediators. However, the role of KCs in initiating regional damage is not established. Several studies based on immunohistochemistry have shown that the KCs in the periportal (PP) area are larger and cell size separation based on elutriation suggest that they are more active in phagocytosis [2-5]. The evidence suggesting that the smaller KCs in the centrilobular region would be more active in cytokine production is not clear-cut [3,4].