Vitamin A Uptake Cells Distributed in the Liver and Other Organs of the Rat

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Abstract
The fat-storing cell discovered in the liver by Ito was considered as specific to this organ. In the present study, the 3 light microscopic criteria of the cell, i.e., occurrence of multilocular fat droplets in Sudan III staining, characteristic fluorescence for the occurrence of vitamin A in the cell and stainability in Kupffer''s gold impregnation, were examined in the liver and other organs of the rat. Cells filling all these criteria were found in the lamina propria of the stomach and small intestine, all the subpleural and perivascular connective tissue and alveolar septa of the lung, and in the red marrow of the spleen. All these cells emit markedly increased fluorescence for vitamin A after this vitamin was administered to the animal. Sudanophilic cells of the same morphological features, though not confirmed by fluorescence and gold impregnation as yet, were also demonstrated in the lymph nodes, thymus, bone marrow and the sites of lymphocyte infiltration in the gut, trachea and liver. Cells either identical with or closely related to the Ito cells of the liver are distributed widely in the tissues of mesenchymal origin, especially in the reticular tissues. Discussion was made concerning the possible role of this vitamin A uptake cell in the organism. This paper also preliminarily reports the wide distribution of the same cells in the human body.

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