The Adrenal Glands in Liver Disease

Abstract

Hyperestrinism in liver cirrhosis has been known to occur for many years.28) Concerning the source of aldosterone production in the adrenal cortex, Sasano39,40) regarded it the outer margin of the fasciculata and proposed the term, zona glomerulosa adulta. The results of the present investigation would also confirm his concept. It will be further taken into consideration, that adrenal lesions in liver diseases are induced not only by endocrine disturbance including stress,3) but also by certain other factors of topography of the organ, particularly direct effects of abnormal portal circulation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Both adrenals of 141 autopsy cases of liver diseases with minimum or slight post-mortem changes were selected for the examination. After Zenker-formol fixation, the tissues were embedded in paraffin, and sections were stained with hematoxyline and eosin, Goldner's trichrome combined with Weigert's elastica stain and Pap's silver impregnation. Frozen sections stained with scarlet red for the demonstration of lipid were also prepared. Well's spirochetes were demonstrated by Dieterle's silver impregnation. The pituitaries were also available in 61 of the cases and stained with PAS-methylbule-organe G, aldehyde fuchsin and performic alcian blue (Adams and Pearse1)). With the latter staining, basophil cells could be divided into two types, S and R, as the original authors observed.

In Search of Zonation Markers to Identify Liver Functional Disorders

“…The concept of liver zonation can be traced back to the 1960s when it was first recognized in mice by Neporent and Glicksman [ 1 ]. Since that time, zonation has been studied in liver diseases [ 2 ]. With a uniform anatomical structure, the liver consists of hexagonal lobules in the form of a honeycomb.…”