The immunoelectron-microscopical demonstration of antibodies against endoplasmic reticulum (microsomes) in chronic aggressive hepatitis and liver cirrhosis.

Electron microscopic findings made on microsomal fractions of rat liver after treatment with microsomal antibodies obtained from the blood of patients diagnosed as having chronic aggressive hepatitis and liver cirrhosis and after incubation with peroxidase-labelled antihuman IgG are described and presented in this paper. Interpretation of these findings as the substrate of an antibody reaction directed against membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum of hepatocytes is discussed.