Melano-macrophage centres in the liver of platyfish, Xiphophorus maculatus, Poeciliidae: Teleostei

Functional dissimilarity of melanomacrophage centres in the liver and spleen from females of the teleost fish Prochilodus argenteus

“…4 Histogram showing the percentages of areas occupied by pigment-containing granules (lipofuscin, hemosiderin, melanin) and non-granulated areas in P. argenteus liver and spleen (*P<0.05) between the liver and spleen. These data corroborate the histochemical study of Leknes (2004) showing a large amount of precipitate in iron-containing granules in the liver of Xiphophorus maculatus. The prevalence of hemosiderin, as indicated by the presence of iron detected by histochemistry and X-ray analysis and the association between erythrocytes and macrophages in the MMCs of the liver provide clear evidence that the MMCs present in the liver are directly involved in iron metabolism and thus associated with phagocytic activity.…”

“…In liver MMCs, the presence of large areas of particulate structures typical of ferritin deposits is associated with regions of hydrophobic material that are evident from peaks of iron and sulphur, as characterized by X-ray microanalysis. Using histochemical methods, Leknes (2004) has described the prevalence of iron-containing granules in the liver MMCs of X. maculatus, in contrast to their absence in the spleen MMCs of Trichogaster leeri and X. maculatus (Leknes 2007).…”

Assessment of the health status of wild fish inhabiting a cotton basin heavily impacted by pesticides in Benin (West Africa)

“…In this study, Perl's iron staining exhibited the presence of hemosiderin in all of the MMC and in the macrophages. The predominant occurrence of hemosiderin in the MMC was reported previously in common dab, Limanda limanda (Bucke et al, 1984), Eurasian perch, Perca fluviatilis, roach, Rutilus rutilus, (Haaparanta et al, 1996), southern platyfish, Xiphophorus maculatus (Leknes, 2004) and African catfish (Van Dyk et al, 2012). The accumulation of hemosiderin in the liver leads to hepatic hemosiderosis, due to a high intake or release of iron.…”

Histopathological changes in two potential indicator fish species from a hyper-eutrophic freshwater ecosystem in South Africa: a baseline study

“…It has been suggested that MMCs are a normal characteristic in fish tissue (Leknes 2004) but an increase in the number or size of these structures can be as a result of a number of factors, including toxicant exposure (Agius and Roberts, 2003) and possibly age. A limitation to this study was the fact that the age of fish was not determined and should in future be included as part of the standard fish health assessment protocol.…”