Nucleic acid synthesis in the mouse liver during restitution after starvation

The synthesis of nuclieic acids in the liver and the lymphoid tissues of adult mice was studied during the restitution period after the 6-day starvation. The results obtained indicate that there occurs an unexpected rapid synthesis of DNA in the hepatic parenchymal cells during the restitution period without significant increase in the total amount of DNA in the liver. Most rapid DNA-synthesis in the liver appears to occur one day after refeeding. With respect to RNA in the liver as well as to both RNA and DNA in the lymphoid tissnes, on the other hand, there is a good parallelism between the rate of their synthesis and that of increase in their amounts, without apparent dissociation between both rates as seen in the liver DNA.