Plasma cells in acute hepatitis: an ultrastructural study.

Plasma cells and their precursors were studied by electron microscopy in liver biopsies from 41 patients with acute viral or drug-induced hepatitis. Mature plasma cells showed the ultrastructural features of the reticular or lymphatic type. Blast cells of different types were also observed. Type 1 predominated in classical acute hepatitis, and appears to transform directly into mature plasma cells. Type 2 corresponds to the centroblast of lymphoid tissue. It was found in fully developed hepatitis, especially when necrosis was severe. Type 3 resembled the centrocyte of lymphoid organs; it was seen particularly in viral hepatitis, and only in severe cases with extensive necrosis. The type 4 plasmablast had the ultrastructural characteristics of a plasmacytoid T cell.