Ultrastructural Studies in Alcoholic Liver Disease

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Abstract
Electron microscopic studies were performed on liver biopsy specimens from 18 patients with alcoholic liver disease. Those ultrastructural changes associated with the disease by contrast with those seen in normal individuals given alcohol were described. Alterations of mitochondria, micro-bodies, lysosomes and endoplasmic reticulum were more frequent and more severe than in normal volunteers given alcohol. Abnormalities of the mitochondrial membranes, the presence of alcoholic hyaline and the leukocytic and fibroblastic mesenchymal response, suggested that alcoholic liver disease was more than an extension of the effect of alcohol. These changes appeared to contribute to further hepatocellular damage. The pattern of parenchymal injury and mesenchymal response was unlike that in viral hepatitis.