An ultrastructural study of the liver, kidney and myocardium in the fatty liver and kidney syndrome in the fowl

Abstract

In birds with the fatty liver and kidney syndrome large lipid droplets measuring up to 4 mum in diameter were observed in increased numbers in liver, kidney and heart muscle, particularly in the livers and the proximal convoluted tubules (PCT) of the kidneys. In the hepatocytes and the PCT a much smaller type of lipid particle (LP) was also observed, both intracellularly within the cisternae of the Golgi-ER system and outside the plasma membranes in the space between neighbouring parenchymal cells, within the space of Disse and among the basal processes of the PCT. The origin of these LP is discussed.