[Ultrastructural-morphometric investigations on liver biopsies--the influence of oral contraceptives on the human liver (author's transl)].

Liver biopsies from 12 healthy women were investigated morphometrically--according to the methods of Weibel (1969). All women had taken an oral contraceptive agent during 2 til 76 months. The evaluated stereological datas were compared with base-line dates for normal human liver biopsies, which were elaborated in a previous investigation (Roessner et al., 1977). Statistical analysis was performed on an IBM 360/50 computer system, including F- and student's t-test. In the liver biopsy-specimen from the women, which were on oral contraceptives, the volume-density of lysosomes per ml hepatocytes shows a pronounced, significant (p less than 0.001) increase. A moderate increase of cytoplasm is combined with decrease of nuclei-volume. The surface-densities of the rough and smooth endoplasmatic reticulum do not differ significantly from the datas calculated from normal human liver biopsies. All other datas too demonstrate that there are no striking changes in the ultrastructure of human liver, caused by oral contraceptives. Functional alterations however can not be excluded.