Abstract
Jejunal biopsies from kwashiorkor patients were studied by light and electron microscopy during the acute stage of the disease and after clinical recovery. The most significant lesion found in 9 of the 16 patients investigated was the presence of many lipid droplets in the cytoplasm of the jejunal absorptive cells. In these patients, in contrast to the rest of the group, the Golgi vacuoles were not distended with fat particles, and chylomicrons were markedly decreased in the intercellular spaces and lamina propria. It is suggested that the basic defect in these patients was that of release of fat from the absorptive cell due to reduced synthesis of lowdensity lipoproteins. This abnormal lipid accumulation was not found after clinical recovery of the patients.
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