Primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes were used to study the cytotoxicity of D-galactosamine. Hepatocytes were isolated by a collagenase perfusion technique and maintained as monolayers in serum-free medium on collagen-coated culture dishes. Treatment of galactosamine to the culture markedly inhibited the uptake of ${alpha}$-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) inducible with glucagon and dexamethasone. At0.1 mM of galactosamine, AIB uptake was inhibited significantly when treated for 12 hr. At higher doses (0.25, 0.5 and 1.0mM), a significant inhibition was noticed after 1 hr exposure. Generally the magnitude of the inhibition was related to the dose and treatment time of galactosamine. Treatment of galactosamine also produced a dose- and treatment time-related suppression of the tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) induction caused by dexamethasone. Meanwhile, uptake of ouabain was not affected by the treatment of galactosamine. The viability of the hepatocytes was decreased only slightly by the treatment of galactosamine; more than 87% of the cells excluded tryphane blue when treated 1 mM galactosamine for 12 hr. Galactosamine induced depressions of AIB uptake and TAT activity were prevented by the simultaneous addition of uridine to the culture. D-Galactosamine, cytotoxicity, hepatocytes culture, ${alpha}$-aminoisobutyric acid uptake, tyrosine aminotransferase.