Amyloid P-component in mice injected with casein: identification in amyloid deposits and in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes.

Amyloid P-component was sought by immunofluorescence in the tissues of CBA mice receiving repeated subcutaneous injections of casein. P-component appeared in a perifollicular distribution in the spleen after about twenty casein injections, and correlated precisely with amyloid deposits identified by staining with Congo red. In mice which had received at least fourteen injections of casein, P-component also became detectable within the cytoplasm of periportal hepatocytes. This is the first demonstration of P-component in murine amyloid and of a possible site for in vivo synthesis of P-component.