Ultrastructural Studies on Liver Cell Necrosis and Lymphocytes in Experimental Hepatitis B

Abstract

Ultrastructural studies on liver cell necrosis and the interaction of lymphocyte and liver cell were carried out in experimental hepatitis B in chimpanzees. Two types of liver cell necrosis were identified. One was a lytic necrosis, and the other was a coagulation necrosis. Both types of liver cell necrosis were closely associated with the apposition of lymphocytes. The interaction (or close contact) of lymphocyte and non‐necrotic liver cell infected with HBV was also detected. There were two distinct patterns of the contact. One was the direct contact, and the other was the contact with the intervention of electron‐dense fuzzy material containing 20 to 22 mu spherical particles and 51 to 55 mu double‐layered spherical particles. The ultrastructural characteristics of lymphocytes in each pattern of the contact were different. The results suggested that the pathogenesis of liver cell necrosis in hepatitis B was closely associated with the action of lymphocytes, and two modes of lymphocytic reaction were conceivable. ACTA PATHOL. JPN. 35 : 1359 ‐1374, 1985.

Liver-specific Inflammatory Signatures Predict Clinically Significant Liver Damage

“…HBV itself is non-cytopathic and liver damage is primarily immune-mediated. Liver damage is characterized by intrahepatic immune infiltration [1][2][3][4][5][6] , resulting from elevated chemokine and cytokine levels [7][8][9] . The inflammatory environment leads to activation of cytotoxic cells that mediate hepatocyte killing through an antigen-independent mechansism 7,[9][10][11] .…”

The Chimpanzee Model for Hepatitis B Virus Infection

“…Similarly, viral transcripts were identified and characterized to determine their 5 0 and 3 0 ends (Cattaneo et al 1983(Cattaneo et al , 1984. Other studies investigated immunopathogenesis in the infected liver using histological and ultrastructural methods (Karasawa et al 1985a(Karasawa et al , 1985bSchaff et al 1992;Falcon et al 1993). Besides serological time course studies of viral antigens and their corresponding antibodies, most of these studies were descriptive in nature (Barker et al 1975b;Takahashi et al 1979;Tabor et al 1980b;Klinkert et al 1986).…”