Ultrastructural observations on Kupffer cells in intrahepatic cholestatic jaundice.

A liver biopsy specimen from a patient with intrahepatic cholestatic jaundice had marked dilation of the bile capillaries, disappearance of the microvilli, and thickened ectoplasm. The unusual finding was a great increase in the number of Kupffer cells that contained masses of electron-dense material, most probably bile. A second examination of the liver, performed one month later when the liver test results had returned to normal, showed only remnants of the Kupffer cells. We report the possible role of the Kupffer cells in the clearance of the blood from the bile pigments.