OBSERVATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND DIFFERENTIATION OF MACROPHAGES IN THE LIVER OF MICE
- VernacularTitle:小白鼠肝脏巨噬细胞的发生和分化
- Author:
Pilung KUAN
;
Weihsin LI
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:
Acta Anatomica Sinica
1957;0(04):-
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
After subcutaneous injection of proper doses of phenylhydrazine to pregnant, youngand adult mice to induce experimental hemolysis, a systematic observation was made onthe developmental and differentiation processes of macrophages in the liver of 10--18 daymouse embryos, of the 1st, 4th, 14th, 20th day young mice and of adult mice. The re-sults were compared with that of the normal controls. Besides liver, the changes ofmacrophages in the spleen and bone marrow were also observed. In the 10th day embryos, in which the primordium of liver began to form, themesenchymal cells in the septum transversium (primitive diaphragm) were seen to dif-ferentiate into primitive macrophages. The later the developmental period of the mouseembryos, the greater is the number of mature macrophages. When adult stage wasreached, the macrophages became Kupffer cells. In the 10--14 day mouse embryos, thephagocytic inclusions in the macrophages appeared as non-homogenous droplets of unequalsize, whereas those found later in the embryonic life and after birth became homogenousgranules. In the early stage of the development of liver, these macrophages, as demons-trated by means of Perls' acid ferrocyanide reaction, contained only scattered and smallamount of iron granules. These iron granules gradually increase in number until latein the embryonic life, during which time they were seen to mass into groups. After birththey gradually reduced in number and disappeared entirely in mice aging 14 days on-ward. These changes indicated that the macrophages in the liver in ontogenesis hadgradually undergone morphological as well as functional differentiation. In the early stage of embryonic liver, the macrophages were found in the hepaticcords and on the walls of the sinusoids. At about the fifteenth day of the embryonic life,following the rearrangement of the hepatic cords, the macrophages originally locatedtherein have now become a part of the newly formed sinusoid walls. Thus the authorsbelieve that during embryonic stage, the macrophages on the sinusoid walls are not en-tirely derived from the endothelium of blood vessels. During the late stage of embryonic development, macrophages containing phagocyticinclusions were also found in the spleen and bone marrow. Only those macrophagesseen in the spleen showed positive Perls' reaction. After birth these macrophages andtheir iron granules in the spleen gradually increased in number. In adult life the spleenbecame the main site of iron reserve.
