An electron microscopic study of the kitten liver with special reference to fat-storing cells.

Abstract

In a 67-day -old female kitten, the morphological differentiation of the hepatic parenchyma has been electron microscopically examined. 1)In spite of the advanced ultrastructural differentiation of the hepatocyte, the usual location of the Golgi complex to the apical cytoplasm around the bile canaliculus has not yet been established. Numerous mitochondria are mingled with round microbodies characterized by a marginal plate and a crystalloid core. Tubular cisternae of the SER occur only around the microbodies and lack within the accumulation of glycogen alpha-particles. 2)The sinusoidal lining has been fully differentiated and is composed of the "cytoplasmic processes" and the "sieve plates" whose fenestrae average 13300 A in diameter. 3) Kupffer cell shows an active phagocytosis to blood cells. The fuzzy coat is unsatisfactorily preserved. The cytoplasm occasionally shows short segments of a worm-like body. 4) The fat-storing cell (FSC) contains a small amount of lipid droplets which mostly appear within the dense accumulation of glycogen beta-particles. Also empty FSCs devoid of lipid droplets mostly possess glycogen accumulations. The glycogen accumulations enclosing lipid droplets are closely juxtaposed by cisternae of the RER and mitochondria, suggesting the possible involvement of these organelles as well as glycogen in the lipid synthesis in the FSC. In most FSCs, abundant cisternae of the RER are dilated and filled up with a finely flocculent material, suggesting an active production of collagen precursor. The FSCs possess abundant microfilaments and microtubules. A single cilium is issued into the Disse's space from one of the paired centrioles located in the Golgi area. 5) The Disse's space of the kitten contains, besides FSCs, plasma cells and macrophages. The latter agree in ultrastructure with the Kupffer cells and are assumed to be transformed into them by being incorporated in the endothelial lining of the sinusoid.