ULTRASTRUCTURAL CHANGES OF CIRRHOTIC LIVER ASSOCIATED WITH CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM: –A Case Report–

Ultrastructural observation has been made on a cirrhotic liver in a 44‐year‐old man with a known history of heavy whisky consumption for the past 20 years. Observations were mainly focussed on the mitochondrial changes and perinuclear amorphous granular bodies presumably identical to the so‐called Mallory's alcoholic hyalines. The mitochondrial changes consisted of (1) gigantism and disfiguration of the mitochondria, (2) presence of intramitochondrial crystalline inclusions, (3) aggregation and disorientation of microtubular cristae, and (4) increase in the number and size of mitochondrial granules. The perinuclear amorphous granular bodies were limited in part by an incomplete membrane outlined by scattered electron‐dense bodies suggestive of altered lysosomes, and contained irregularly distributed filamentous structures that were often paired not unlike the fragmented cristae of mitochondria. It is emphasized that these structures are consistent with the so‐called Mallory's alcoholic hyaline bodies and that they make up one of the forms described as focal cytoplasmic degradation. Since no definite evidence of transitional forms has been observed, the relationship between the altered mitochondria and Mallory's hyaline bodies has not been established. ACTA PATH. JAP. 20: 339 ‐ 356, 1970.