Histochemical features of liver parenchyma of C57BL/6J lean (A) and C57BL/6J Lepob/Lepob obese (B) mice.

Semi-thin sections of the liver specimens were embedded in Epoxy resin and stained with Toluidine blue-PAS. Morphometric and semi-quantitative estimation of TG deposits in the liver parenchyma was assessed by an automated computerized methodology (see Materials and Methods for details). (A) Normal liver of C57BL/6J control lean mouse. (B) Simple steatosis with macrovesicular infiltration of hepatocytes in ob/ob mouse liver parenchyma. Hepatic parenchymal cells appear swollen with accumulated lipids which widen the parenchymal cell plates, narrow and distort the lumens of sinusoids so as to reduce the intrasinusoidal volume, as well as altering the architecture of the sinusoidal network. Many hepatocytes resemble mature adipocytes. ld, lipid droplet; ss, sinusoidal space. Bar, 30 µm.