We studied the effect of human milk on DNA synthesis of neonatal hepatocytes to elucidate the physiologic role of human milk in growth of the liver. Neonatal hepatocytes were isolated from 5-d-old rats and cultured in serum-free medium. Human milk stimulated DNA synthesis of these hepatocytes in a concentration-dependent manner. The stimulatory activity of 7.5% (vol/vol) human milk plus 0.1 mumol/L insulin was five times that of control and was almost the same as that of 20 micrograms/L human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) plus insulin. The effect of human milk was additive with treatment with hEGF and insulin. The milk associated with prolonged jaundice of infants was significantly more active than the milk that was not associated with jaundice, although the concentration of hEGF was not different between the two types of milk. The mitogenic activity of milk was heat-labile, inactivated by DTT and stable after treatment with trypsin. Three peaks of the activity were detected in milk by gel filtration and the fraction containing proteins of molecular weight between 36,000 and 76,000 showed the highest activity. Anti-hEGF antibody did not inhibit this activity completely. These results suggested the presence of mitogens other than hEGF or a more active form of hEGF in human milk. The milk associated with breast-milk jaundice exerts a different influence on cell growth and may affect maturation of the liver function related to bilirubin metabolism. The mitogenic activity of milk might be important for growth and development of the liver in infants.