In Vivo Microscopy of the Effects of Ethanol on the Liver

Abstract

In vivo microscopic studies of the mammalian liver, to date, have been restricted principally to studies of rats and mice, although a few studies have been reported using hamsters, guinea pigs, and rabbits. ¹ Nevertheless, these studies have provided valuable information concerning the liver, particularly its microvascular compartment. The latter is composed of portal and central venules, hepatic arterioles and sinusoids, as well as associated neural elements that may modulate or modify vascular mechanisms controlled locally or by hormones. This system is responsible for regulating everything that enters and leaves the sinusoids where the exchange processes occur between the blood and the hepatic parenchymal cells. Since the microcirculation is dynamic, it is best studied using in vivo microscopic methods, which permit the rate, duration, magnitude, and direction of dynamic events to be directly visualized, evaluated, quantified, and recorded continuously in life. Surprisingly, however, only a limited number of in vivo microscopic studies have been reported on the basic hepatic microcirculatory response to alcohol.^2-5