Histological changes of bile duct in experimental graft-versus-host disease across minor histocompatibility barriers. II. Electron microscopic observations.

Electron microscopic features of intrahepatic bile ducts of experimental mouse graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) across minor histocompatibility barriers were studied for 14 months after transplantation. In GVHD mice, the bile duct epithelial layer was consistently infiltrated by lymphoid cells and often accompanied by polymorphonuclear leukocytes, monocytes and rarely by plasma cells. The epithelial cells in close contact with and in the vicinity of these infiltrated cells showed a variety of degenerative changes, including darkness of the cytoplasm and the nucleus with shrunken, irregular contours, increase in the amount of endoplasmic reticulum and number of mitochondria, and formation of intracytoplasmic vesicles and diverticula, cytoplasmic blebs, and apoptopic bodies. Lymphocytes were in close contact with epithelial cells through a number of point-contacts and located in the lateral intercellular spaces and/or between the basement membranes and the epithelial cells. The localization of infiltrating lymphocytes beneath the epithelial cells with conspicuous detachment from the basement membranes strongly suggested a link with subsequent epithelial cell injury and death. The lymphoid cells had irregular cytoplasmic projections which occasionally extended into spaces created by retractions of the epithelial cell membranes, reflecting an activation of the lymphocytes. These findings support the notion that the bile duct lesions in GVHD across minor histocompatibility barriers are mediated by specifically sensitized lymphocytes against epithelial cell membrane antigens. From our previous finding that a large majority of the infiltrating lymphocytes had a phenotype of helper/inducer T cells, a putative role of these lymphocytes in the induction of the bile duct lesions is discussed.