Histological effects of llpids on the liver and spleen of mice

Lipids administered by the intravenous route produced ultrastructural changes in the liver and spleen of mice. Treatment with tricaprin resulted in prominent and enlarged Kupffer cells possibly with increase numbers of dense bodies. Cholesterol oleate was found within Kupffer cells and splenic macrophages. The Kupffer cells were distended by lipid and obtruded on the sinusoidal lumen; similar changes were seen in the macrophages of the red pulp and marginal zone of the spleen. Cholesterol oleate delayed but did not prevent eventual phagocytosis or colloidal carbon; the spleen contained much more carbon than usual after treatment with this substance. Treatment with ethyl palmitate resulted in diminished retention of carbon in both liver and spleen; this lipid, unlike tricaprin or cholesterol oleate, was cytotoxic to both macrophages and lymphocytes.