1. Albino rats, weighing 150-200gm (3-5 months of age), were treated with repeated subcutaneous injections of 1cc. of 1% aqueous solution of trypan blue (E. MERK), and the reactions of reticulo-endothelial cells in the liver, spleen, lymph nodes, bone marrow and other organs have been observed.
2. When injection of trypan blue had been repeated twice or once weekly, or fortnightly, foci of round cells began to appear in the interlobular spaces of the liver after 2-3 months and grew rapidly in size thereafter, so that after 7-8 months they became visible by the naked eye (Figs. 1-2). The majority of the cells constituting the newly-formed cell foci were storing trypan blue in relatively large granules as did the stellate cells of KUPFFER (Fig. 3). Splenectomy, that had been performed one month prior to the injection of trypan blue, enhanced the formation of foci of round cells in the liver to some extent (Fig. 1).
3. After treatment with twice daily injections of trypan blue for 7-14 days, the stellate cells of the liver became markedly swollen, assuming an oval or rounded shape, and were in active proliferation. Mitotic figures were frequently seen in the swollen stellate cells (Figs. 5-6). In organs other than the liver, however, such proliferative reaction of reticuloendothelial cells occurred only to a much lesser degree (Fig. 7).
4. The swollen stellate cells of the liver, which had became desquamated from the sinusoidal wall, appeared to be transferred by the blood stream to the lung where large round cells stroring trypan blue greatly increased in number (Figs. 9-10). However, some of these cells immediately migrated into the interlobular spaces (Fig. 4).
5. The stellate cells of the liver in mitosis usually did not contain trypan blue granules in their cell body, but some of the dividing cells apparently showed dye-storing ability (Fig. 6). In the former case, the stellate cells in mitosis were discriminated from other cells by the form and size of their cell body and by the site of their occurrence (Fig. 5).
6. The claim of previous investigators such as SSYSSOJEW (1926) and MALYSCHEW (1927), that stellate cells of Kupffer and other reticuloendothelial cells may transform into blood cells during the processes of their proliferation, could not be verified in the present observations.
7. On the basis of the findings outlined above, it is evident that active proliferation of stellate cells of the liver may be induced by repeated injections of trypan blue, and it seem reasonable to consider proliferation of stellate cells to be one of the major factors responsible for the formation of foci of round cells in the interlobular spaces of the liver.
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