ORCEIN POSITIVE HEPATOCELLULAR MATERIAL IN LONG-STANDING BILIARY DISEASES .2. ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDIES

Abstract

An ultrastructural study of liver cells was performed on 4 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and on 3 patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH). In liver cells of PBC patients large (ad 2-3 .mu. in diameter) particles were seen, which morphologically resembled autophagic vacuoles or large secondary lysosomes. The morphology, size, location and quantity of these particles corresponded to the orcein positive material seen in light microscopy of adjacent sections in specimens from PBC patients. These large particles were not seen in liver cells of CAH patients, which also lacked the orcein positive material in light microscopy. The observed particles indicated the activation of lysosomal compartment in liver cells in PBC, and the orcein positive material (Cu-protein complex accumulating in liver cells in chronic cholestasis) was taken into the phagolysosomal metabolism and processing in liver cells, and possibly resembled in this respect the intracellular metabolism of Fe-compounds.