Ultrastructural localization of aluminum in hepatocytes of hemodialyzed patients.

ABSTRACT

The livers of 7 hemodialyzed patients have been studied by electron microscopy and electron probe X-ray microanalysis. In 6 patients dialyzed for a long time (at least 39 months), aluminum has been detected in high concentrations in phagolysosomes of hepatocytes; in these lysosomes aluminum is associated with phosphorus. In 2 of these 6 patients, a very large number of aluminum inclusion bodies were found inside hepatocytes and this aluminum accumulation was associated with severe ultrastructural lesions of the cells. In one patient dialyzed during a short period (4 months) no aluminum accumulation has been observed. In none of the 7 patients was aluminum accumulation detected inside the Küpffer cells. These observations show that the cell which accumulates aluminum in the liver of dialyzed patients is the hepatocyte and not the Küpffer cell and that this accumulation may be associated with serious hepatocellular lesions.