A comparative morphometrical analysis of atrophic hapatocytes pressed by amyloid deposits and in starvation

A comparative morphometrical study on the atrophy of hepatocytes was made using the point-counting method. Light and electron microscopical photographs of the murin hepatocytes of peripheral zone of the lobules were morphometrically evaluated in eperimental amyloidosis and in three days starvation. Mitochondria in the hepatpcytes pressed by amyloid deposits were morphologically tended to be aggregated in distribution, but the volume density of mitochondria was not increased and individual mitochondoria were slightly enlarged in size. On the other-hand, in the hepatocytes in stravation, the volume density of mitochondoria was increased and each of the mitochondoria was enlarged in size as 2.7 times as those of the control hepatocytes and decreased considerably in number. There was no increase of autophagpspmes in the hepatocytes in both conditions. The change of mitochondria and sutophagosomes do not reveal the increase of consumption of the organella, but represent the decrease of de novo synthesis of the organella. The volume density of rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) was increased in the hepatocytes pressed by amyloid deposits. In starvation, the volume density of rER in the hepatocytes did not change and the desrease of amount of rER was more striking than in amyloidosis. It is speculated that the relatively developed rER in the hepatocytes pressed by amyloid deposits may show an enhancement of the synthesis of serum amyloid A protein by an amyloidogenic stimulation, and that the decrease of rER in the hepatocytes in starvation may reveal the decrease of protein synthesis.