Functional heterogeneity among liver cells: implications for drug toxicity and metabolism

Most drugs and chemicals that are toxic to the liver cause selective damage to liver cells surrounding terminal branches of hepatic veins. Recent work has emphasized the role of metabolic activation in such toxicity. The hepatic mixed function oxygenases, with cytochrome P450 as terminal oxidase, mediate metabolic activation so that selective toxicity provides circumstantial evidence that MFO activity is also concentrated around hepatic veins. …