ELECTRON MICROSCOPIC STUDY ON THE FLOATING LIPIDS OF HUMAN LIVER

Using fractionation, subcellular pathogenesis of the fatty liver was investigated. Floating lipids were isolated from a small amount of the liver obtained by needle biopsy. The volume of the floating lipids was correlated to the grading of fat infiltration of the intact tissue. Of lipid-rich particles bound by membranous structures, the volume of lipolysosomes in the patients with liver damage associated with diabetes mellitus was greater than that of alcoholics. Hypercholesterolemia was another feature characteristic of the liver disease exhibiting lipolysosome proliferation. These observations suggest a lysosomal involvement in fatty degeneration of the liver in diabetics through an overload of cholesterol.