Early patchy hepatic necrosis. Its appearance after bile-duct ligation in rats with a portacaval shunt

We incidentally observed that rats with portacaval shunts (PCS) had patchy hepatic necrosis after bile-duct ligation (BDL). Rats with two weeks of PCS underwent BDL, then were killed after 0,5 or 20 hours, or two or four days; rats undergoing sham PCS were used as controls. Patchy hepatic necrosis distributed at random within the acinus was mainly lytic after five and 20 hours, then displayed inflammatory features after two days. The inflammation tends to disappear by four days, with a differentiation of new hepatocytes into neo-bile ducts. These necrotic areas were 60 times more severe after five hours, and 20 times more severe after 20 hours in rats undergoing PCS than in those undergoing sham PCS. In the former group, necrosis after five hours represented 1.92% of the total area examined. Histological characteristics and the high incidence with PCA suggest that necroses have vascular origin.