Detection of hepatitis A antigen in human liver.

For the first time, hepatitis A viral antigen (HAAg) was shown in liver biopsy tissue from a patient in the acute phase of hepatitis type A by light and electron microscopy, using the peroxidase-antibody technique. Under light microscopy, the staining for HAAg appeared as a fine, granular reaction product, scattered throughout the cytoplasm of hepatocytes and sinusoidal lining cells. Standard thin-section electron microscopy revealed virus-like particles, 24 to 27 nm in diameter, in cytoplasmic vesicles of hepatocytes and Kupffer cells. By immunoperoxidase electron microscopy, HAAg was detected on particles aggregated within cytoplasmic vesicles of hepatocytes, thus demonstrating that the virus-like particles (24 to 27 nm) are hepatitis A virus. The surrounding membrane of the vesicles was also positive for HAAg. The distribution patterns of HAAg in human liver were virtually identical to those described for experimentally infected marmosets. It is notable that most HAAg was detected within vesicles of liver cell cytoplasm, suggesting the possibility of vesicle-oriented morphogenesis of hepatitis A virus.