Objective:The aim of this study was to determine the relationships between the effect of TGF-? 1 and apoptosis in normal and cirrhotic murine hepatocytes. Methods: Liver cirrhosis was induced by means of injection with 50% carbon tetrachloride in BALB/c mice. Hepatocytes were isolated an in situ perfusion method with collagenase solution with minor modification. Normal hepatocytes treated with TGF-? 1(5 ng/ml) were stained with fluorescent DNA-binding dyes Hoechst 33342. The apoptosis of hepatocytes was determined by electrophoresis on 1.5% agarose gel to observe DNA ladder. Results:The viability of hepatocytes isolated from mice by in situ two step collagenase digestion was 95.2%. Internucleosomal fragmented DNA ladder was observed using a 1.5% agarose gel in normal hepatocytes treated with TGF-? 1.obvious DNA ladder from cirrhotic hepatocytes was not observed. The percentage of apoptotic rate in TGF-? 1 treated normal hepatocytes were much higher than that of hepatocytes untreated with TGF-? 1. Conclusion: It was revealed that cirrhotic hepatocytes have poor response to apoptosis induced by TGF-? 1.