Parenchymatous liver cells

The parenchymatous liver cells (hepatocytes) hold a key position in the overall metabolism of iron (57, 58, 59, 60), and since functionally intact liver mitochondria can be conveniently prepared at high yield, these mitochondria have been most extensively studied so far. The iron transporting system discussed above for liver mitochondria is present also in mitochondria from other tissues and animal species (Table III). Quantitatively, erythroid cells of the bone marrow play the most important role in the overall metabolism of iron (61), and it was therefore not unexpected to find that the energized uptake of iron by isolated reticulocyte mitochondria exceeds that of mitochondria isolated from, for example, liver, kidney, and heart (Table IV). Thus, a relationship appears to exist between the rate and extent of heme protein turnover in mitochondria isolated from different tissues and their energized iron accumulation (30). Thus, it is evident that cellular differentiation is expressed at the mitochondrial level by modulation of the activity of essential functions related to iron transport and heme biosynthesis. 

The reticular fibre structure of the sinusoids breaks apart, while liver cells attempt to remedy the parenchymatous defects from the area of the lobules. In chronic, alcohol-... 

Parenchyma cells comprising 60% of the total weight of the liver and Kupfer s cells (a variety of reticular endothelium) were purified using differential centrifugation from mouse and rat livers. Electrophoresis of these extracts in polyacrylamide gels demonstrated only the LDH-5 form in the parenchymatous cells, but in the Kupfer s cells LDH-1, LDH-2, LDH-3, LDH-4, and LDH-5 appeared (Fig. 27 Palmer and Kjellberg, 1967 Berg and Blix, 1973). 

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