Contractility of Bile Canaliculi: Implications for Liver Function

Oshio, Chikara; Phillips, M. James

doi:10.1126/science.7015506

Cited by 185 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Recently, however, canalicular contractions were observed using freshly isolated nondisrupted hepatocytes (17). Phillips et al (20) postulated that actin filaments around bile canaliculi might provide a canaliculus-related contractile function which could facilitate bile flow in the canalicular system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cytoskeletal protein changes in hepatocytes of bile duct-ligated rats.

Hoshino

Katagiri

Takeshima

et al. 1989

Acta Histochem. Cytochem

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cytoskeletal protein changes in hepatocytes of bile duct-ligated rats.

Hoshino

Katagiri

Takeshima

et al. 1989

Acta Histochem. Cytochem

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“…From this morphological analogy in the filament distribution, it is interesting to speculate that bile canaliculi are capable of active contraction like an intestinal epithelium. Recently, Oshio and Phillips (1981), and Phillips et al (1982Phillips et al ( , 1983 showed that cultured rat hepatocytes really had a forceful contraction ability. As yet, there has been no clear evidence that bile canaliculi in human do contract in vivo, and further study must be performed to substantiate this speculation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three-dimensional structure of cytoskeletal system in human hepatocytes viewed by polyethylene-glycol-embedding method.

Ishii

Miyazaki

Ohta

et al. 1985

Tohoku J. Exp. Med.

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In an attempt to demonstrate the three-dimensional cytoskeletal system of human hepaocytes, we used two kinds of tissue processing. In one, specimens were immediately fixed with 1% glutaraldehyde, saponin 0.5 mg/ml, and tannic acid 2 mg/ml (procedure A) and in the other, cytoplasmic matrix and organelles were washed out with a solution containing saponin 0.5 mg/ml and 0.15% Triton X-100, followed by fixation with glutaraldehyde (procedure B). The specimens were embedded in polyethylene glycol, sectioned at 500 nm, critical point-dried and observed in a TEM. With procedure A, a fine lattice was shown to spread throughout the cytoplasm so as to connect plasma membranes with cytoplasmic organelles, condensed around the bile canaliculi. With procedure B, microfilaments, microtubules and intermediate filaments could be clearly visualized three-dimensionally instead of the lattice structure. At a higher magnification, microvilli of canaliculus were found to contain a core microfilament which were enmeshed in a pericanalicular filament plexus. This plexus looking like the terminal web of intestinal epithelia, encircled the canaliculus and was attached to the zonula adherens. Outside the plexus, intermediate filament network was shown attached to the desmosome. These morphological findings indicated that the cytoskeleton of human hepatocytes is composed of microfilaments, microtubules, intermediate filaments and the fine lattice structure, suggesting that the bile canaliculi could contract in vivo.cytoskeleton ; human hepatocyte ; polyethylene-glycol-embedding method ; three-dimensional electron microscopy Many papers have dealt with the filamentous structures of human hepatocytes and their relation to bile canaliculi (Bieva 1964;Oda et al. 1974;French and Davis 1975;Yokota and Fahimi 1979). The distribution of the filaments can be observed by using immunofluorescence staining (Horoboroco et al. 1975;Yokota and Fahimi 1979), but can hardly be seen by conventional electron microscopy because in a two dimensional ultrathin section filamentous structures appear only

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“…30 According to analyses in rat hepatocyte couplets using time-lapse videomicroscopy, 50 BCs contract with a periodicity of approximately 6 minutes. 30 When constitutive CO is eliminated by ZnPP, the interval shortens, and intracellular Ca 2ϩ increases.…”

Section: Effects Of Co On Bile Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%