Electron probe X-ray analysis on human hepatocellular lysosomes with copper deposits: copper binding to a thiol-protein in lysosomes.

Livers of eight patients with chronic liver diseases were investigated by energy dispersive x-ray analysis. First, three kinds of preparations (osmium-Epon sections, glutaraldehyde-frozen sections, and unfixed-frozen sections) were compared for element detectability at a subcellular level. The glutaraldehyde-frozen sections were satisfactory as far as copper, sulfur, and phosphorus were concerned. Five patients (one patient with Wilson's disease, one chronic cholestasis, one chronic hepatitis, and two asymptomatic primary biliary cirrhosis) yielded x-ray images of copper and sulfur consistent with hepatocellular lysosomes. Second, the glutaraldehyde-frozen sections were utilized for a study of copper deposits in the patients' livers. There was a significant correlation between copper and sulfur contents in the lysosomes of all patients studied but no correlation in the remainder of the cytoplasm. Zinc was not detected in the lysosomes. Whatever the content of copper in the lysosomes, the ratio of delta copper to phosphorus (weight/weight) to delta sulfur to phosphorus was 0.60. These data indicate that most lysosomal copper binds to a thiol protein, probably metallothionein, in the liver.