THE PARASINUSOIDAL CELLS OF THE LIVER - A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT
THE PARASINUSOIDAL CELLS OF THE LIVER - A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT
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DOI:
10.1007/bf01675207
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发表时间:
1986-06-01
期刊:
影响因子:
--
通讯作者:
ATERMAN, K
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
ATERMAN, K
Some twenty years ago, in an attempt to review critically the structure of the liver sinusoids and to interpret old'facts', real or illusory, in the light of knowledge then current (Aterman, 1963), little space was given to a group of extravascular cells that have since become known by a confusing array of terms listed by Wake (1980). This lack of emphasis was the result less of design than of necessity, for factual knowledge of the'pericytes'(Rouget, 1879; Zimmermann, 1923; Schmidt, 1960; Grubb & Jones, 1971),'perivascular'(Berkley, 1893),'perisinusoidal'(Wood, 1963),'fat-storing'(Ito & Nemoto, 1952) or'reticuloendothelial'(Wassermann, 1958) cells was at that time scanty, to the extent that their very existence was questioned by some. Regrettably, Bronfenmajer et al.(1966) erroneously maintained that I had likewise denied the existence of the perisinusoidal cells; however, I had in fact included Wood's (1963) beautiful electron micrograph demonstrating these cells and, in keeping with the views of Schmidt (1960) and Wood (1963), I had pointed to a possible role for them in fibrogenesis. Today these cells are not only widely accepted as a component of the liver sinusoids, but they have been isolated (Knook et al., 1982; de Leeuw et al., 1984; Savolainen et al., 1984; Leo et al., 1985) and have become the object of much detailed research in their own right. Some of the results of these studies on the complex morphological and functional aspects of this cell type have been discussed at the recently held Third International Kupffer Cell Symposium (Strasbourg-Le Bischenberg, 1985). Since these deliberations (Kirn et al., 1986) amply reflect the current state of our knowledge and views, no attempt will be made here to cover this ground again. Instead the emphasis will be placed largely on the historical context in which our knowledge of this cell type developed, in the hope that such a historical review will serve as Ariadne's thread through a verbal labyrinth whose complexity has prevented the emergence of a common terminology. Zimmermann's (1923, 1928) comments on the loose verbiage used in referring to the sinusoidal cells of the liver are as valid today as they were in his time. There is an additional reason why a historical account would appear justified. It is illustrated by a juxtaposition of statements made by two active workers in the field whose contributions have helped to popularize the'fat-storing''stellate'cells. In 1952, Ito & Nemoto wrote:'Im Jahre 1950 hat Ito, einer yon uns, w/ihrend der Stuclie cler Sternzellen zuf/illig bis dahin unbekannte Zellen in der Kapillarenwand entdeckt...'. It should be noted that the authors spoke of the discovery of unknown t cells in the course of studies of'the stellate'cells, the latter being the phagocytic'Kupffer cells'. Similar statements subsequently recurred also in Ito's other writings (eg Ito et al., 1952). He reiterated (Ito, 1973) that the fat-storing cell (Fettspeicherungszelle) was discovered by Ito (in 1951) during light microscopical observations of the normal human liver, and reinforced this claim in 1978 by stating that'the fat-storing cell was first discovered by Ito (1950)'. In 1971, however, Wake maintained that'the'StemzeUen'of the liver were first reported by yon Kupffer*(11876)', and he repeated this statement in his detailed review in 1980, when he also maintained that'the true nature of these cells remained enigmatic for over several decades (after Kupffer's description) until they were rediscovered by Wake (1971)'. The uninitiated may well accept these sentences at face value, as the recent paper by Tozuka et al.(1985) shows. But if we realize that, as Ito and Wake themselves maintain, the'Fettspeicherungszellen'of Ito are now …