Mechanism of fibroplasia in chronic active hepatitis. An immunohistochemical study of various collagen types, fibronectin and laminin in human liver.

The cytoplasm of human bile ductule epithelia was found to be Type V collagen positive, demonstrating that the epithelia were able to generate this type of collagen. The ductules proliferated greatly with Type V collagen positive cytoplasm in piece-meal necrosis of chronic active hepatitis (CAH). The capillary-like bile ductules inside human hepatic lobules were identified. Our findings might explain the mechanism of fibroplasia in CAH.