An ultrastructural study of liver explants from infants with vertically transmitted hepatitis

• Published in: Experimental and molecular pathology Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 113 - 126
• Main Authors: Dunn, Alfred E.G., Peters, Robert L., Schweitzer, Irvin L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Inc 01.08.1973
• Subjects: Biopsy; Cell Nucleus - microbiology; Child, Preschool; Culture Techniques; Cytoplasm - microbiology; Female; Hepatitis B - microbiology; Hepatitis B - pathology; Hepatitis Viruses - isolation & purification; Humans; Infant; Liver - microbiology; Liver - pathology; Male; Maternal-Fetal Exchange; Microscopy, Electron; Pregnancy; Virus Replication
• ISSN: 0014-4800; 1096-0945
• DOI: 10.1016/0014-4800(73)90045-2

Liver biopsy specimens were taken from three infants whose mothers had acute hepatitis-B-antigen-positive (HB-Ag-positive) viral hepatitis within 2 mo of delivery. The biopsy specimens were taken at 11, 28, and 27 mo of age, all three infants having developed chronic HB-antigenemia within 3 mo after birth. Part of the liver tissue from each biopsy specimen was immediately processed and examined by light and electron microscopy while the remaining portions were maintained in explant culture media and examined by electron microscopy at intervals ranging from a few hours to 6 wk. Intranuclear virus-like particles, with a diameter of approximately 24 nmeters, were located in hepatocytes of the initial biopsy tissues. Examination of the explanted hepatocytes revealed evidence of proliferation of these intranuclear particles. In one of the explants, cytoplasmic membrane-bound virus-like particles, with a diameter of approximately 33 nmeters, were located. It was concluded that the hepatocyte intranuclear particles were viral in nature and that they proliferate within the nucleus. The possibility of further development of these particles within the hepatocyte cytoplasm, resulting in membrane-bound particles, is discussed in the light of current concepts regarding the origin of a mature hepatitis virus.