Liver

• The liver


  • Situated in abdominal cavity beneath the diaphragm
  • Most of its blood comes from the portal vein, small amount supplied by hepatic artery
  • Through the portal vein, all the material absorbed via the intestines reaches the liver except the lipids
  • Lipids transported by lymph vessels
• Hepatocytes


  • Polyhedral in shape, with 6 or more surfaces
  • Diameter of approx 20-30um
  • Cytoplasm is eosinophilic mainly because of the presence of large no. mitochondria and to some extent smooth endoplasmic reticulum
  • Located at different distances from portal triads show variations in structural, histochemical and biochemical parameters
  • Cells with endocrine and exocrine functions
  • Synthesise and accumulate certain substances, detoxify others and transport still others
• Liver has an extraordinary capacity for regeneration
• Periodic acid schiff staining

  1. Rehydrate

  2. Oxidise

  3. Rinse

  4. Stain

  5. Rinse

  6. Counterstain

  7. Dehydrate, clear and mount
• Periodic acid schiff (PAS)

  Reactivity of free aldehyde groups within carbohydrates with the Schiff reagent to form a bright red magenta end product
• PAS with Diastase


  1. Bring sections to water

  2. Place slides on staining racks and cover with saliva for 10 mins

  3. Wash slides well in running tap water for 5 mins

  4. Continue with PAS method
• Masson trichrome staining


  1. Post fixation (Bouin's solution)

  2. Stain (Weigert's Haematoxylin - nuclei)

  3. Dye (acid-fuchsin Biebrich scarlet/ponceau)

  4. Destain (phosphotunstiophospholybdic acid (PTAH))

  5. Counterstain (aniline blue or methyl blue)
• Haematoxylin van Gieson staining

  1. Rehydrate

  2. Stain (Weigert's iron haematoxylin 10 min)

  3. Wash

  4. Stain (Van Gieson for 3 min)

  5. Blot

  6. Quick rinse

  7. Clear in xylene and mount
• Bile canaliculi


  • Tubular space between two hepatocytes
  • First portions of the bile duct system
• Techniques to demonstrate reticular fibres

  1. Dyes

  2. Metal impregnation
• Metal impregnation techniques


  • Most reliable and popular
  • Reticular fibres have only a low natural affinity for silver salts and require suitable pre-treatment in order to enhance the selectivity of the impregnation
• Gordon & Sweets Retic staining


  1. Rehydrate

  2. Treatment (1% potassium permangenate for 5 min)

  3. Rinse

  4. Bleach (1% oxalic acid for 1 min)

  5. Rinse

  6. Treat (2.5% iron alum 15 min)

  7. Wash (several changes of distilled water)

  8. Treat (ammoniacal silver solution for 2 min)

  9. Rinse

  10. Reduce (10% formalin for 2 min)

  11. Rinse

  12. Tone (0.2% gold chloride for 3 min)
• Liver pathology


  • Liver is vulnerable to a wide variety of metabolic, toxic, microbial, circulatory and neoplastic damage
  • Dominant primary diseases are: Viral hepatitis, Alcoholic liver disease, Hepatocellular carcinoma
  • Liver damage is often secondary to most common diseases, such as cardiac disease, metastatic cancer and extra hepatic infections
  • Five general responses to injury: Degeneration and intracellular accumulation, Necrosis and apoptosis, Inflammation, Regeneration, Fibrosis
• Alcoholic liver disease


  • Excessive alcohol consumption is leading cause
  • Three distinctive, overlapping, forms: Hepatic steatosis (fatty liver), Alcoholic Hepatitis, Cirrhosis
• Alcoholic hepatitis


  • Neutrophilic reaction - neutrophils permeate the lobule and accumulate around degenerating hepatocytes, particularly those having Mallory bodies
  • Fibrosis - almost always accompanied by prominent activation of sinusoidal stellate cells and portal tract fibroblasts, giving rise to fibrosis
• Hepatitis


  • Infections of the liver caused by a group of viruses that have an affinity for the liver
  • Some systemic viral infections can involve the liver but do not cause a true "viral hepatitis"
• Shikata's Orcein Method


  1. Bring sections to distilled water

  2. Treat with acidified potassium permananate for 5 min

  3. Bleach with 1.5% oxalic acid for 1 min

  4. Wash in distilled water for 5 min, then in 70% ethanol

  5. Stain in orcein solution for 90 min at 37C

  6. Rinse in 70% ethanol

  7. Dehydrate, clear and mount
• Haemochromatosis


  • Fibrous septa develop slowly, leading ultimately to a micronodular pattern of cirrhosis in an intensely pigmented liver
  • Iron is a direct hepato-toxin and inflammation is usually absent
  • With increasing iron load, there is progressive involvement of the rest of the lobule, along with bile duct epithelium and Kupffer cells
  • Significant cause of death is from hepatocellular carcinoma
  • Can be diagnosed long before irreversible tissue damage has occurred
• Perl's Prussian Blue reaction for Ferric Iron

  1. Treatment

  2. Rehydrate

  3. Stain

  4. Wash

  5. Lightly Counterstain

  6. Blot Dry

  7. Dehydrate, clear and mount
• The liver and lungs both involved in metastatic spread of cancers
• Primary carcinomas of the liver are relatively uncommon