After partial hepatectomy, the liver is capable of complete restoration of normal hepatic size, architecture, and function (regeneration). To study roles of the extracellular matrix in regeneration, the temporal and spatial sequences of deposition of several components, including collagen I, III, and IV, fibronectin, laminin, heparan sulfate proteoglycan (perlecan), and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans were characterized by light microscopic immunohistochemistry in rat liver after 70% partial hepatectomy. Consistent with previous reports, there was a brisk mitosis of hepatocytes after the partial hepatectomy. Of the extracellular matrix components studied, 1B5 epitope generated by chondroitinase ABC digestion on chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans exhibited the most dramatic changes; the epitope was detectable as early as 1.5 hr after partial hepatectomy and its immunoreactivity reached a maximum at 24 hr, then declined gradually. This transient expression of the 1B5 epitope was also detected in neonatal rat liver during development. By Western blotting, the 1B5 epitope was found on two forms of the core protein of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans with apparent molecular masses of 163 KD and 152 KD, which were also regulated in the same temporal manner.