[Perfusion-fixation of liver needle biopsy: technic]

Technical details concerning the perfusion-fixation of liver needle biopsies are described. The biopsy (less than or equal to 0,5 cm length) migrated in a Pasteur pipette filled with heparinized Ringer solution and stopped when its diameter corresponded to the internal diameter of the pipette. The pipette was cut above the upper part of the biopsy. The biopsy was perfused with a thin needle (external diameter 0.2 mm) struck in the upper part of the biopsy under binocular microscopy control. Fixation medium, 2.5 p. 100 glutaraldehyde, was aspirated at the inferior extremity of the pipette. The aspiration speed was equal to the perfusion speed (0.15 ml/min). The biopsy was perfused for 5-8 min. This simple technique allows for detailed electron microscopic examination of sinusoids, sinusoidal and perisinusoidal cells as well as of the spaces of Disse.