HBsAg-like structures in immunosuppressed mice inoculated with human hepatitis B virus

Thymectomised and irradiated DBA/2 mice were injected intraperitoneally with human serum containing high titer of HBsAg, and were positive for HBsAg. Through the entire experiment neither degenerative and inflammatory lesions nor hepatitis B virus antigens could be detected in the liver of these animals by histomorphology and immunofluorescence, respectively. The sera of all these mice were negative for HBsAg by radioimmunoassay. By electron microscopy, however, increasing amounts of filaments and round particles measuring 20-22 nm in diameter could be observed in the endoplasmic reticulum of the mouse hepatocytes from the 8th day following injection. From the 90th day after inoculation the number of the filaments increased in an extreme degree. After fixation with KMnO4 and EDTA preferential staining, the filaments proved to be highly electrondense. According to the authors the filaments observed in mouse livers are lipoproteins produced by the hepatocytes in response to HBV inoculation. The appearance of the filaments is HBsAg-like, though their immunological characteristics become modified.