Matsunaga Y, Terada T
The Second Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Japan.
Liver. 2000 Apr;20(2):152-6. doi: 10.1034/j.1600-0676.2000.020002152.x.
AIM/BACKGROUND: In various hepatobiliary diseases mast cells have been found to be associated with fibrogenesis. However, mast cell subpopulations have not been investigated in the human liver in normal subjects or in disease. Human mast cells are categorized into mast cells positive for tryptase (MC(T)) only and mast cells positive for both tryptase and chymase (MC(TC)).
In this study we investigated mast cell subpopulations (MC(T) and MC(TC)) by double immunostaining for mast cell tryptase and chymase as well as by a computer-aided quantitative morphometry in 13 normal livers and in 193 liver tissue specimens comprising of primary biliary cirrhosis (n=43), autoimmune hepatitis (n=11), chronic hepatitis B (n=37), chronic hepatitis C (n=41), alcoholic liver disease (n=40) and hepatolithiasis (n=21).
The densities of MC(T) and MC(TC) per 1 mm2 stroma were low in normal livers but high in chronic liver diseases, and correlated positively with the degree of fibrosis. The percentages of MC(T) and MC(TC) subpopulations were 25% and 75%, respectively. The percentage was almost the same in normal livers and various hepatobliliary diseases, as well as between less fibrotic cases and more fibrotic cases in liver diseases.
These results suggest that MC(T) and MC(TC) subpopulations in healthy and diseased livers do not change during liver fibrosis of any etiology.
目的/背景：在各种肝胆疾病中，已发现肥大细胞与纤维生成有关。然而，在正常受试者或疾病状态下的人体肝脏中，尚未对肥大细胞亚群进行研究。人类肥大细胞分为仅对类胰蛋白酶呈阳性的肥大细胞（MC(T)）和对类胰蛋白酶和糜蛋白酶均呈阳性的肥大细胞（MC(TC)）。
在本研究中，我们通过对肥大细胞类胰蛋白酶和糜蛋白酶进行双重免疫染色以及计算机辅助定量形态学分析，对13例正常肝脏和193例肝脏组织标本中的肥大细胞亚群（MC(T)和MC(TC)）进行了研究。这些肝脏组织标本包括原发性胆汁性肝硬化（n = 43）、自身免疫性肝炎（n = 11）、慢性乙型肝炎（n = 37）、慢性丙型肝炎（n = 41）、酒精性肝病（n = 40）和肝内胆管结石症（n = 21）。
每1平方毫米基质中MC(T)和MC(TC)的密度在正常肝脏中较低，但在慢性肝病中较高，且与纤维化程度呈正相关。MC(T)和MC(TC)亚群的百分比分别为25%和75%。在正常肝脏和各种肝胆疾病中，以及在肝病中纤维化程度较轻和较重的病例之间，该百分比几乎相同。
这些结果表明，在任何病因引起的肝纤维化过程中，健康肝脏和患病肝脏中的MC(T)和MC(TC)亚群均无变化。
