[Ultrastructural changes in the subcellular membranes of hepatocytes during the early periods of starvation].

Ultrastructural changes in the membranes of subcellular structures of the liver in rats were studied with the help of electron microscopy at early periods (48 hours) of fasting. In the hepatocytes of fasting animals the authors found a disrupted structure of the nuclear membranes (an increased lumen between membranes and enlargement of pores) and of mitochondria (changed shape and a significant diminution in the number of cristae) along with vacuolization and degranulation of the rough endoplasmatic reticulum. At the same time, the hepatocytes demonstrated a drastic hypertrophy of the GERL zone characterized by a rising number of the Golgi apparatus dictyosomata, of the smooth endoplasmatic reticulum cysterns and of primary lysosomes. All this was accompanied by a sharp intensification of the processes of autophagy, finding its expression in a significantly increased numbers of secondary lysosomes of the autophagic type. Emphasis is laid upon the fact that while the revealed ultrastructural changes in the cellular and mitochondrial membranes, as well as in the endoplasmatic reticulum may with high degree of probability, be interpreted as manifestations indicative of functional disorders occurring in these organelles, the hypertrophy of the Golgi apparatus, a rise in the number of primary and secondary lysosomes and their activation appear as an adaptation reaction of the cell to conditions created by the organism switching over to a forced endogenous alimentation.