Ultrastructural analysis of liver biopsy specimens in diabetes mellitus associated with chronic opisthorchiasis.

Degenerative and compensatory adaptive changes in hepatocytes and other cell populations were detected in liver biopsy specimens from patients with diabetes mellitus concomitant with chronic opisthorchis invasion. The degenerative changes included alteration of hepatocyte nuclei, infiltration of the nucleoplasm with glycogen, and formation of cricoid nuclei. The cholestatic syndrome manifested in increased intracellular cholestasis. Perihepatocellular fibrosis characteristic of combined disease leads to "autonomization" of hepatocytes, "activation" of all poles of the plasmalemma, and formation of numerous microvilli not only at the biliary and sinusoidal poles, but also on lateral surfaces. These changes are directed at improvement of hepatocyte functional activity and intensification of metabolic processes.