Bile ductal and ductular changes of the livers in the renal allografted patients.

Nine liver biopsies from six renal allografted patients suffering from liver injury were examined by light and electron microscope and immunostaining. The patients had never been on liver dysfunction prior to renal transplantation and after renal transplantation had been administered azathioprine continuously. These patients had shown HBs antigen negative sera. Three of these patients restored normal liver function after withdrawal of azathioprine. Accordingly, the liver diseases of the three were supposedly caused by azathioprine. The liver biopsies of six patients were histologically diagnosed as follows: chronic active hepatitis with severe cholestasis (1 patient), liver cirrhosis with cholestasis (1 patient), acute hepatitis (1 patient), and mild hepatitis (3 patients). The common pathological findings of six patients were degeneration of interlobular bile ducts and ductules, as well as degeneration of liver cells, and mild to moderate inflammatory cell infiltration of portal tracts and sinusoids. The degeneration of bile ductal and ductular cells were classified into two types: light microscopical finding showed vacuolar or eosinophilic cytoplasm and electron microscopic compatible findings showed hydropic cytoplasm scant of free ribosome and organelles, or dense cytoplasm rich in free ribosome and degenerated organelles. The basement membranes of interlobular bile ducts and ductules were always preserved.