New aspects of the origin of hepatocellular vacuoles. An ultrastructural study on rat and mice liver after different intoxications.

The stages of vacuolar formations in liver parenchymal cells of rats and mice following application of phalloidine, amanitine, o-phenylphenol, hexachlorophene and p-chloro-m-cresol were demonstrated by electron microscopic investigations. After treatment the intercellular spaces are markedly widened and in restricted regions exhibit large sacculi penetrating into the cytoplasm of adjacent hepatocytes. In cross-sections these invaginations frequently appear as intracellular vacuoles. Our present investigations, however, clearly demonstrate that these vacuoles are still in direct connection with the intercellular space. The vacuolar formation is more pronounced in older animals and it is suggested that an increased patho-physiological portal hypertension leads to the swelling of the intercellular space.