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Cancer influences hepatic amino acid metabolism in the host. To further investigate this relationship, the effects of an implanted fibrosarcoma on specific amino acid transport activities were measured in periportal (PP)- and perivenous (PV)-enriched rat hepatocyte populations. Na(+)-dependent glutamate transport rates were eightfold higher in PV than in PP preparations but were relatively unaffected during tumor growth. System N-mediated glutamine uptake was 75% higher in PV than in PP preparations and was stimulated up to twofold in both regions by tumor burdens of 9 +/- 4% of carcass weight compared with hepatocytes from pair-fed control animals. Excessive tumor burdens (26 +/- 7%) resulted in hypophagia, loss of PV-enriched system N activities, and reduced transporter stimulation. Conversely, saturable arginine uptake was enhanced fourfold in PP preparations and was induced twofold only after excessive tumor burden. These data suggest that hepatic amino acid transporters are differentially influenced by cancer in a spatial and temporal manner, and they represent the first report of reciprocal zonal enrichment of system N and saturable arginine uptake in the mammalian liver.