Fig. 9

Cross-species comparison of a rat, b mouse, and c human (upper panel) mass recovery profiles with experimental liver regeneration data [16, 27, 28] and (lower Panel) predicted fraction of replicating hepatocytes for each species. This model suggests that the key difference governing regeneration profiles between species is an altered balance between proliferative and replicative balance in hepatocytes. This species-specific balance alters the levels of GFs available during regeneration thereby altering the simulated BrdU incorporation of hepatocytes post-PHx. Rats and mice have similar metabolic loads and growth rates causing similar BrdU incorporation with several slight differences. Rats have a slightly later peak BrdU than mice (30 h vs. 28 h) and a higher peak value (0.75 vs. 0.66). Mouse BrdU incorporation, however, continues longer than rat. Similarly, humans show a reduced peak replication response (note change of scale) but a lengthened regeneration period, leading to similar overall recovery