[Ultrastructural findings in the alcohol-damaged liver]

Eleven cases of alcoholic hepatitis with a fibrosis of various grade and one needle biopsy of alcoholic cirrhosis showed a diffuse dilatation of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum with a floccular precipitate in cisternae in big clear centrilobular hepatocytes. Mallory's hyalin was formed by densely packed filaments of different density and thickness in large deposits. Big hyaline inclusions were found in hepatocytes of different location in five cases of alcoholic fibrosis. They represented dilated cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum full of a fine granular material. The cells mostly found in centriacinous pericellular collagenization and in fibrous tissue were fibroblasts, myofibroblasts were less frequent whereas Ito's cells were much reduced or missing. Epithelial cells of de novo formed bile ducts showed an insignificant widening of the basement membrane.