Summary
Liver biopsies from 12 healthy women were investigated morphometrically — according to the methods of Weibel (1969). All women had taken an oral contraceptive agent during 2 til 76 months. The evaluated stereological datas were compared with base-line datas for normal human liver biopsies, which were elaborated in a previous investigation (Roessner et al., 1977). Statistical analysis was performed on an IBM 360/50 computer system, including F- and student's t-test. In the liver biopsy-specimen from the women, which were on oral contraceptives, the volume-density of lysosomes per ml hepatocytes shows a pronounced, significant (p<0.001) increase. A moderate increase of cytoplasm is combined with decrease of nuclei-volume. The surface-densities of the rough and smooth endoplasmatic reticulum do not differ significantly from the datas calculated from normal human liver biopsies. All other datas too demonstrate that there are no striking changes in the ultrastructure of human liver, caused by oral contraceptives. Functional alterations however can not be excluded.
Zusammenfassung
Es wurden Leberbiopsien von 12 Frauen feinstrukturell-morphometrisch untersucht, die über einen Zeitraum von 2 Monaten bis zu 8 Jahren ein Kombinationspräparat zur hormonellen Antikonzeption eingenommen hatten. Die stereologischen Daten wurden bereits vorher erstellten Basiswerten für normale Lebern (Roessner et al., 1977) gegenübergestellt und auf signifikante Unterschiede hin überprüft (p<0,001).
Eine deutliche Volumenzunahme lysosomaler Zelleinschlüsse pro ml Hepatocyten und eine leichte Cytoplasmavergrößerung bei gleichzeitiger Verkleine-rung der Nuclei kennzeichnen die Veränderungen der Hepatocyten. Alle übrigen ermittelten Parameter lassen den Schluß zu, daß wesentliche Alterationen der Ultrastruktur der menschlichen Leber nach hormoneller Kontrazeption nicht auftreten.
Ob damit auch funktionelle Alterationen auszuschließen sind, kann hier nicht beantwortet werden.
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Stahl, K., Themann, H. & Verhagen, A. Ultrastrukturell-morphometrische Untersuchungen an Leberbiopsien — Der Einfluß von Ovulationshemmern auf die menschliche Leber. Arch. Gynak. 223, 205–211 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00667390
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00667390