Analyses on lipid-rich organelles of the rat liver after bile duct ligation.

A fraction of lipid-rich organelles of rat livers was analyzed to study the effect of bile duct ligation on lipid metabolism. The lipid fraction of the control rats consisted mainly of Golgi-derived dense bodies. Three days after the ligation, myelin-like figures and increased phospholipids and cholesterol were characteristic of the fraction. Two weeks ligation resulted in proliferation of lysosomal electron dense bodies. As their volume density expanded, phospholipids and cholesterol increased. Electrophoresis indicated a reduced rate of VLDL assembly after ligation. The Golgi-dominant phase is converted to the lysosomal phase in the heavy subfraction after the bile duct ligation. This subcellular change could be a consequence of secondary lipidosis: hepatocyte lysosomes have been exhausted in sorting accumulated lipids into secretory lipoproteins.