Live-donor atlas maps healthy liver zonation and early steatosis dynamics

Researchers built a high‑resolution spatial atlas of the healthy human liver from live donors, integrating Visium, MERFISH and single-nucleus RNA‑seq to map hepatocyte zonation along the porto–central axis and compare with adjacent diseased tissue. They validate distinct pericentral and periportal programs, reveal early steatosis signatures such as reduced nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes with compensatory mitochondria-encoded transcripts, and extend analyses to other mammals. The atlas provides a healthy-liver baseline to advance biology and disease research.