Morphometric analysis of infiltrating cells that adhere to the sinusoidal wall and migrate into the space of disse in the orthotopically transplanted rat liver.
To reveal the kinetics of infiltrating cells in the hepatic parenchyma after the liver transplantation, we identified the cell type (macrophages, monocytes, agranular lymphocytes, large granular lymphocytes, and neutrophils) and localization on toluidine blue-stained sections of perfusion-fixed liver grafts in rejecting and tolerant combinations and performed quantitative analysis of the density of each cell species infiltrating inside and outside the sinusoid at days 4 and 7. The number of total infiltrating cells per unit square became 9 times as high as that of an untreated liver at day 4 and 30 times as high at day 7. Macrophages accounted for a large part of the infiltrating cells both in and around the sinusoid: 72% of intrasinusoidal infiltrating cells and 88% of extrasinusoidal ones at day 4; 73% of intrasinusoidal ones and 93% of extrasinusoidal ones at day 7. The ratio of extrasinusoidal cell to intrasinusoidal cell of macrophages was 9:91 at day 4 and 34:66 at day 7, much higher than ratios of other infiltrating cells. This fact means that macrophages show a marked tendency to migrate out of the sinusoid in the liver graft. The proportion of macrophages to total infiltrating cells dropped at day 4 and went up again at day 7, while that of monocytes showed a reverse pattern. Histologically, immature macrophages, possibly derived from recipient monocytes, coexisted with vacuolated donor macrophages in the sinusoid at day 4, but the latter cells were diminished at day 7. These data indicate that transformation of recipient monocytes into macrophages in the sinusoid and subsequent extrasinusoidal migration of newly formed macrophages occur soon after the cell influx into the liver graft begins at day 4. The present study has revealed that macrophages, especially those migrating into the space of Disse, will be closely related to the pathogenesis of the liver transplantation.
Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
H
H
Yamamoto
K
K
Kaneda
N
N
Kamada
K
K
Wake
D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002465:Cell Movement; D002634:Chemotaxis, Leukocyte; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000276:immunology; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000473:pathology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats; D011914:Rats, Inbred BN; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014463:Ultrasonography