[Ultrastructural changes in the epithelial cells of the small intestine mucosa in chronic liver diseases].

Electron microscopy of epithelial cells of the mucous membrane of the duodenum and jejunum was performed in 20 patients with chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis to reveal changes in the structure of intracellular formations of epithelial cells of the cryptae and villi, of goblet and enterochromaffin cells. The most essential differences were found in mitochondria, granular cytoplasmic network, ribosomes, microvilli and glycocalix. There were no differences in the pattern of cellular changes in chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis. However, the degree of lesions increased in patients with liver cirrhosis. Morphologic changes seen in the mucous membrane of the small intestine (duodenitis and jejunitis) in chronic liver diseases present the morphologic substrate of digestion impaired by these diseases.