Alterations in hepatic pericanalicular cytoplasm during enhanced bile secretory activity

In an attempt to demonstrate the morphology of the bile secretory apparatus, male rats were restrained and maintained on an isocaloric diet with (experimental) and without (control) taurocholate, which was continuously infused via a duodenal cannula. This method of taurocholate administration promotes a 2-fold increase in the bile acid pool size and bile secretory rate and increases the transport maximum of taurocholate by approximately 50%. After 48 hours, the livers from both the control and experimental animals were perfusion-fixed and whole hepatocytes as well as pericanalicular cytoplasm (defined as a 1-micron. wide zone of cytoplasm adjacent to the bile canaliculus) in both centrolobular and periportal cells were subjected to a stereologic analysis. Although taurocholate infusion produced relatively few changes in the amounts of organelles or inclusionswithin hepatocytes, it caused highly significant increases in the amount ofGolgi-rich area, Golgi membranes, and the number of vesicles with diameters greater than 1000 A in the pericanalicular area of cytoplasm. In addition to these changes, which occurred in both central and periportal zones, decreases in the volume of lysosomes and the surface area of smooth surfaced endoplasmic reticulum were observed. These data provide new evidence that the "bile secretory apparatus" may encompass several hepatocellular components which include the Golgi complex and a vesicular transport system.