Intralobular Distribution of Vitamin A-Storing Lipid Droplets in Hepatic Stellate Cells with Special Reference to Polar Bear and Arctic Fox

• Published in: Comparative Hepatology
• Main Authors: Higashi, Nobuyo, Imai, Katsuyuki, Sato, Mitsuru, Sato, Takeya, Kojima, Naosuke, Miura, Mitsutaka, Wold, Heidi L, Moskaug, Jan Øivind, Berg, Trond, Norum, Kaare R, Roos, Norbert, Wake, Kenjiro, Blomhoff, Rune, Senoo, Haruki
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: BioMed Central 2004
• Subjects: Proceedings; Arctic; Arctic Fox; polar bear
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2409438; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14960168; https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-5926-2-S1-S16

We examined the liver of adult polar bears, arctic foxes, and rats by gold chloride staining, fluorescence microscopy for the detection of autofluorescence of vitamin A, hematoxylin-eosin staining, staining with Masson's trichrome, Ishii and Ishii's silver impregnation, and transmission electron microscopical morphometry. The liver lobules of the arctic animals showed a zonal gradient in the storage of vitamin A. The density (i.e., cell number per area) of hepatic stellate cells was essentially the same among the zones. These results indicate that the hepatic stellate cells of the polar bears and arctic foxes possess heterogeneity of vitamin A-storing capacity in their liver lobules.