[Ultrastructural findings in intrahepatic bile ducts in primary biliary cirrhosis]

A lesion of small bile ducts wall in 6 women suffering from primary biliary cirrhosis (stage II, III, IV) included unspecific and progressive epithelial changes (increase of cytoskeleton, filaments, many phagosomes, basement membrane reduplication). Besides in stage II of the disease and in one case of cirrhosis, there were dense deposits in widened basement membrane and periductal macrophages which reminded of the bile. Some biliary canaliculi were dilated in all the cases and their microvilli were partly lost or swollen.