The morphology and composition of cholesterol, protein, and bilirubin deposits in dried human bile: cathodoluminescence and backscattered electron imaging.

This work is the first to deal with the application of color cathodoluminescence scanning electron microscopy (CCL SEM) and a novel version of combined imaging with backscattered electrons (CCL + BSE SEM) for the study of the composition of bile and its precipitation mechanisms. The present study demonstrates cholesterol, protein, and bilirubin distribution in deposits of normal and abnormal human bile after solution evaporation to full dryness. Qualitative CCL SEM analysis showed that dried bile remnants include different proportions of the above components.

[Cholestasis assessment by activity of antioxidant enzymes and composition of plasma lipoproteins in patients with liver diseases].

Aim: Investigation of activity of copper-containing enzymes in plasma superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ceruloplasmin (CP) in comparison with concentrations of lipoproteins (LP) of the main classes in patients with chronic hepatic diseases (CHD).

Materials And Methods: SOD activity, CP and LP in plasma were measured in 90 patients with CHD.

Results: An inverse relationship was found between SOD activity and CP content in CHD.

Investigation of cholesterol, bilirubin, and protein distribution in human gallstones by color cathodoluminescence scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.

The application of color cathodoluminescent scanning electron microscopy (CCL-SEM) for qualitative luminescence analysis of cholesterol, bilirubin, and protein in human gallastones was demonstrated. Images of these deposits (cholesterol, bilirubin, and protein) were formed in real colors (blue-cholesterol, red, orange-bilirubin, yellow, green-protein) in accordance with the cathodoluminescent spectrum for each control material. The other method described for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of ultrathin sections provides more detailed characterization of the ultrastructure of cholesterol-containing regions and their spatial interrelations with bilirubin-containing regions.

[Clinical significance of gel electrophoresis of blood lipoproteins in primary biliary cirrhosis].

Gel electrophoresis was used for separation of lipoproteins of the blood sera in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) of the liver and cholelithiasis. Increased level of beta-lipoproteins in parallel with a reduction of total alpha- and pre-beta-lipoproteins were revealed in patients with PBC, these shifts being more expressed at later stages of the disease. An appreciable increase of beta- to alpha-lipoprotein ratio in PBC was observed.

[Microstructure of vesicular agglomerates of the lithogenic bile].

Bimolecular layer of phospholipids and cholesterol is the structural base of the vesicular agglomerates of the lithogenic bile, as was shown by the methods of scanning and transmission electron microscopy. There are two morphologic versions of the lipid texture in agglomerates: a/multilayer's vesicles resembles to multilamellar liposomes b/aggregate of the bilayer's lamellae's growing in package. The authors considers that the lamellae's phase together with lipophilic and hydrophilic substances is not only predecessor, but also main structural component of the cholesterol bile stones.

[Morphological approach to characterizing the heterogeneity of blood plasma lipoproteins in different types of pathology].

Heterogeneity of lipoprotein particles of the main classes is shown in primary and secondary hyperlipidemias. It displays biochemical, physical and chemical impairments in the system of lipid transport. Aggregation is one of lipoprotein heterogeneity manifestation.

[Experimental study of the use of colchicine in alcoholic liver diseases].

Rats kept on a standard diet were subdivided into several experimental groups: group 1, control; group 2, animals receiving ethyl alcohol for 10 days; group 3, animals receiving ethyl alcohol for 3 months; group 4, animals receiving colchicine; group 5, animals receiving alcohol in combination with colchicine; group 6, animals receiving alcohol in combination with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4); and group 7, animals receiving alcohol in combination with CCl4 and colchicine. Electron microscopy of the rat liver has shown that colchicine inhibited significantly the onset of hepatic fibrosis and degenerative changes in hepatocyte organells induced by hepatotoxins (alcohol alone or alcohol in combination with CCl4). Colchicine also inhibited monooxygenase activity in the liver homogenate of experimental rats.

[Perfusion method of fixing and incubating alkaline phosphatase in the rat liver for cytochemical study].

A perfusion method is described for the ultrastructural demonstration of alkaline phosphatase. The present approach is based on a short vascular perfusion of the rat liver with glutaraldehyde through the portal vein or the aorta, followed by a vascular perfusion incubation with a medium containing the enzyme substrates. From the vessels a good penetration of the medium into all tissues is achieved.

[Ultrastructure of the myelin-like particles in the liver of mice administered liposomes with various levels of cholesterol and phosphatidylcholine].

Ultrastructure of myelin-like particles and distribution of the cholesterol-digitonin reaction product in the microcirculatory vessels of mouse liver before and 1, 2, 3, 10 and 60 min after injecting liposomes containing phosphatidyl and cholesterol at a ratio of 7:2 or 2:1, the lipid concentration amounting to 0.01 mg per 1 microliter preparation. After administering the preparation via the portal or tail vein one could see a more or less marked accumulation of the cholesterol-containing granules in liver sinusoids and in Disse's space, as well as a synchronous increase in the amount of lipid drops and myelin-like structures in hepatocytes.

Comparison of the ultrastructure of small dense forms of chlamydiae and Coxiella burnetii.

In the course of passaging of Coxiella burnetii (C.b.) in Alveonasus lahorensis ticks, the haemocytes contained cell forms with electrondense cytoplasm, intracytoplasmic lamellar membranes, and a peculiar limiting membrane--25 to 30 nm thick "envelope complex".