Ultrastructural study of cells in pseudolobules of the liver with experimental cirrhosis

Abstract

Light and electron microscopic changes of various cells in the hepatic lobules were investigated in CCl₄-induced cirrhosis in rats in order to elucidate the morphogenesis of liver cirrhosis. Large amounts of microvilli were on surfaces of the hepatocytes lining intercellular channels which were formed by splitting of adjacent hepatocytic cords. There were stenosis, obliteration or dilation of sinusoids and formation of basement membrane-like structures beneath sinusoidal endothelial cells, and hepatocytes in the isolated pseudolobules were linked with sinusoids indirectly by the channels. The channels thus formed were considered to be a way of exchanging substances between hepatocytes and blood.

Keywords

cirrhosis / microvilli / intercellular channel

References

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