Ultrastructure of hepatocellular tumors

The lesions that appear during hepatocarcinogenesis can be separated into morphologically distinct entities, which have been arranged into sequences believed to represent stages in carcinogenesis. Similarly, the primary and transplantable hepato-cellular carcinomas (HCC) can be arranged into a sequence of stages believed to represent the progression toward the ultimate cancer cell. Separation of morphological entities has been most successful in rat liver. Ultrastructural studies differentiate between lesions derived from hepatocytes and those originating in other cellular components of the liver. They show that there is variability and divergence in the structure of cellular organelles in the early stages of carcinogenesis, that there is simplification of cellular structure and of organelles during the progression of HCC, and that qualitative changes specific for cancer cells do not exist. Toxic changes associated with the process of carcinogenesis are loss of stacks; wrapping of cisternae around mitochondria; dilation, denudation, and vesiculation of cisternae; increase of autophagy; depletion of glycogen, and enlargement of nuclei and nucleoli. Early changes are storage of glycogen and hyperplasia of smooth endoplasmic reticulum. Subsequent alterations are increased variability in the size, shape, and structure of mitochondria and in the structure of endoplasmic reticulum, including the appearance of fingerprints. A transient stage recognizable by storage of lipid may represent a degenerative process. Ultrastructural characteristics of basophilic cells such as abundance of free ribosomes and absence of glycogen and of smooth endoplasmic reticulum suggest that they may be a stage in the formation of HCC. Progression of HCC is associated with a decrease in the number and size of mitochondria, reduction of mitochondrial cristae, decrease in the number and complexity of microbodies, reduction of the tubulovesicular form of smooth reticulum, accumulation of free ribosomes, and increase of the granular component and condensation of the fibrillar component of nucleoli. Various types of nuclear inclusions reflect the increased mitotic rate of the neoplastic tissue. Changes of the cellular surface are believed to be associated with the ability of the cells to invade and metastasize. Future investigations will require the use of single doses of potent carcinogens, application of morphometric methods at the ultrastructural level, and acceptance of primates as models for human hepatocarcinogenesis.