Immunocytochemical study of gamma globulin in liver in hepatitis and postnecrotic cirrhosis.

Gamma globulin was demonstrated by immunocytochemical fluorescence technique in many reticuloendothelial cells of the hepatic sinusoids and of the fibrous tracts in various forms of hepatitis and in postnecrotic cirrhosis. In other liver diseases and in normal livers, even in the presence of hypergammaglobulinemia, few if any gamma globulin-containing cells were found. In contrast, spleen and lymph nodes showed no difference between postnecrotic cirrhosis or hepatitis and other types of cirrhosis or non-hepatic hypergammaglobulinemias. The gamma globulin-containing cells in the liver are on cytologic grounds considered reticuloendothelial cells showing transition to plasma cells and exhibiting little or no phagocytosis of tissue breakdown products. These cells are assumed to form rather than engulf gamma globulin. The possibility that the gamma globulin formed represents antibody to liver cell breakdown products is discussed.