Biochemical and morphologic changes in hepatocytes from the shock injured liver.

It has been proposed that the isolated hepatocyte is an excellent model for the study of cellular changes during and after hemorrhagic shock. To investigate this proposition the biochemical and morphologic changes in the isolated hepatocyte of shock injured rats were documented. Use of the isolated hepatocyte allows direct measurement of intracellular biochemical changes which we find corroborates the results of basic shock studies done on rats using liver slices, perfused liver or specimens taken at biopsy. Morphologic changes in the shocked liver of the rat are noted using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results are correlated with the biochemical changes. SEM of the isolated hepatocyte reveals marked swelling immediately after shock with some scattered blebs. The cells show some recovery at two hours with near complete normality restored at 24 hours. TEM of tissue and isolated cells reveal vacuolization and mitochondrial changes in the early post shock period with return to normality at 24 hours after shock. The shock injured hepatocyte is a reasonably faithful representative of the events which have taken place in the liver from which it is isolated. It can be used as a model for treatment in vivo or as a device for comparison of the effects of different environments in vivo or in vitro.