METHODS IN LABORATORY INVESTIGATION - ELECTRON-PROBE X-RAY-ANALYSIS ON HUMAN HEPATOCELLULAR LYSOSOMES WITH COPPER-DEPOSITS - COPPER-BINDING TO A THIOL-PROTEIN IN LYSOSOMES

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 51  (5) , 592-597
Abstract
Livers of 8 patients with chronic liver diseases were investigated by energy dispersive X-ray analysis. First, 3 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 Cu, S, and P were concerned. Five patients (1 patient with Wilson''s disease, 1 chronic cholestasis, 1 chronic hepatitis and 2 asymptomatic primary biliary cirrhosis) yielded X-ray images of Cu and S consistent with hepatocellular lysosomes. Second, the glutaraldehyde-frozen sections were utilized for a study of Cu deposits in the patients'' livers. There was a significant correlation between Cu and S contents in the lysosomes of all patients studied but no correlation in the remainder of the cytoplasm. Zn was not detected in the lysosomes. Whatever the content of Cu in the lysosomes, the ratio of .DELTA.Cu to P (weight/weight) to .DELTA.S to P was 0.60. Most lysosomal Cu apparently binds to a thiol protein, probably metallothionein, in the liver.