[Morphological study of the hepatocyte in cirrhotic patients treated with phenobarbital]

The authors report on a comparative study of light and electron microscopy in the diagnosis of tissue obtained in 21 percutaneous liver biopsies in patients known to have cirrhosis. Using light microscopy twelve patients were ascertained to have post-necrotic cirrhosis and twelve had Laennec's cirrhosis. All of these patients were given phenobarbital, 65 mg. every twelve hours, during twenty-one days. A control group of five patients received placebos. With electron microscopic methods, in all of the cirrhotic patients both before and after treatment with phenobarbital, the authors observed bands of fibrous tissue made up of collagen fibers and fibroblasts which originate in the portal spaces and in the Kupffer cells. This makes up the mesenchymal reaction to the liver cell damage, which in the long run proves to be more important than liver cell regeneration. Phenobarbital treatment resulted in hyperplasia of the agranular endoplasmic reticulum in liver cells. The authors agree with other authors that this is related to metabolic activity of enzymes acting on extraneous drugs and chemical substances.