Establishment of a normal range of morphometric values for peroxisomes in paediatric liver

The size and number of hepatic peroxisomes was investigated in 16 control paediatric liver biopsies from patients ranging in age from 3 months to 18 years one fetal liver specimen and one paediatric autopsy liver. The area, diameter, volume density (Vv), numerical density (Nv) and surface density (Sv) of the peroxisomes was recorded using randomly selected electron micrographs. The mean diameter of peroxisomes in control paediatric liver was 0.56 microns, the mean Vv was 1.67%, the mean Nv was 0.125 per micron+3 and the mean Sv was 0.161 per micron. No correlation was found between the size and number of hepatic peroxisomes and the age or sex of the patient. Peroxisomes in the fetal liver were smaller than those in biopsy tissue and had a mean diameter of 0.42 micron. Peroxisomes were identified in autopsy tissue and were enlarged with a mean diameter of 0.75 micron, most probably due to post-mortem swelling. A range of morphometric values in paediatric liver has now been established.