Alcoholic hyalin-containing hepatocytes--a characteristic morphologic appearance.

We studied the morphologic appearance of alcoholic hyalin (AH)-containing hepatocytes in liver biopsies from 14 patients with alcoholic liver disease. Most hepatocytes had a characteristic appearance. The cells were swollen and hydropic with an intact cell membrane. The mitochondria had variable-sized cristae which were both shortened and elongated. The smooth endoplasmic reticulum was markedly decreased. The rough endoplasmic reticulum was bizarre, with detachment of the ribosomes that surrounded the AH. The hepatocytes that contained AH bodies had lost almost all the glucose-6-phosphate activity but had variable amounts of succinic dehydrogenase and diphosphopyridine nucleotide diaphorase activities. The neutrophils admixed with mononuclear cells attached themselves to the hepatocytes and then invaginated into the hepatocytic cytoplasm with focal lysis of the cell membrane mediated via the release of neutrophilic lysosomes. The distortion of protein-synthesizing organelles and decrease in glucose-6-phosphatase activity suggest that the AH-containing hepatocyte is metabolically decompensated. The final cell death may be related to the neutrophilic attack, rather than the metabolic derangement.