Chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis: Ultrastructural and serologic studies

Abstract

Liver biopsies from five patients with chronic non-A, non-B (NANB) hepatitis were examined by electron microscopy for hepatocellular alterations. Circular fused membranes were observed within the cytoplasm of hepatocytes of four of the patients. Aggregates of intranuclear particles, measuring 22 +/- 2 nm in diameter, were also seen in two of the biopsies in which fused membranes were identified. Sera of all five patients formed precipitin lines detectable by counterimmunoelectrophoresis when reacted with serum from an individual convalescent from posttransfusion NANB hepatitis. Using this convalescent serum as an antibody source, complexes of 22 +/- 2 nm particles were identified in three of the chronic patient sera by immunoelectron microscopy. These observations suggest that at last one of the agents responsible for NANB hepatitis elicits both nuclear and cytoplasmic modifications. Furthermore, the 22 +/- 2 nm particles circulating in the sera of the chronic NANB patients may represent components related to NANB hepatitis agent.

Experimental non‐A, non‐B hepatitis in chimpanzees: Light, electron and immune microscopical observations

“…Several ultrastructural changes in addition to those described by Shimizu et al (2) have been found associated with NANB hepatitis of chimpanzees and man, such as attaching curved membranes ( 5 , 13,14), microtubular aggregates (5), tubular fragments within the endoplasmic reticulum (15), dilatation and herniation of the endoplasmic reticulum (14,16) with lamellar inclusions (13) and crystalline arrays in liver cells ( 17) and endothelial cells (1 1, 18). None of these was a conspicuous finding in the present series of biopsies, with the exception of the wellknown lesions of the endoplasmic reticulum.…”

Clinical, biochemical, serological, histological and ultrastructural features of liver disease in drug abusers.

“…This may well be due to sampling as the reported frequency of finding such particles in human tissue is rather smallone in 50 nuclei. 35 The size of the particles and the morphological 421 appearance bears close similarity to normal chromatin particles, in particular interchromatin granules, which have a mean diameter of 20-25 mm.36 This raises some doubt as to the specificity of such narticles in non-A, non-B hepatitis. Busachi et al, however considered that in their patients with non-A, non-B hepatitis the particles were different from interchromatin granules.…”