Accumulation of lipofuscin pigment in human hepatic cells from different races and in different environmental conditions.

The changing pattern with age of lipofuscin pigment deposition in the hepatic cells of native and Hawaii Japanese and caucasians in the U.S.A. was micrometrically examined. The amount of pigment was generally largest in the Hawaii Japanese, and smallest in the native Japanese; the age-related increase of the pigment was most marked in the latter. The accumulation of pigment in human hepatic cells is considered to be an age-related change in the hepatic cells, but not necessarily of the individual, and seems to be influenced by a relationship between nutritional conditions and constitution of the individual. Though a possible relationship between age and lipofuscin deposition may be noticed, the accumulation of pigment in the hepatic cells is not necessarily an inherent part of the aging process of the individual.