Improved Kupffer's gold chloride method for demonstrating the stellate cells storing retinol (vitamin A) in the liver and extrahepatic organs of vertebrates.

This paper describes our modification of the classical gold chloride technique for the demonstration of the perisinusoidal stellate cells in the liver. The results of the method as introduced by von Kupffer (1876) are unpredictable. Using our modification, high quality gold preparations can be obtained. The method allows selective staining of retinol (vitamin A)-storing stellate cells in the liver and extrahepatic organs of various vertebrates. The sensitivity of the reaction is comparable to that of the fluorescence method for retinol. The technique is simple and the preparations keep for several years. Formol fixed specimens can be counterstained with Sudan III or hematoxylin. We have also developed a simple technique for making "sinusoid-net preparations," removing the parenchymal cells by supersonication. The clear visualization of the stellate cells that results has made it possible to study the distribution of these cells.