Immunohistochemical Aspects of Ito and Kupffer Cells in the Liver of Domesticated and Wild Ruminants

Abstract

The mammalian liver is a morphologically and functionally complex organ, made up of not only of the largely pre-dominant parenchymal cells (hepatocytes) but also non-parenchymal cells. Although there are less non-parenchymal cells than hepatocytes, they nevertheless play an important role in regulating many hepatocyte functions, as well as in the immunology of the liver. We investigated the structural aspects of the liver and the morpho-functional characteris-tics of Ito and Kupffer cells in two domesticated ruminant species (cattle and goat) in comparison with four wild rumi-nant species living in captivity in a zoo in northern Italy. The liver specimens were studied using histological, histo-chemical and immunohistochemical methods. The liver parenchyma was structurally normal. Immunohistochemistry was performed for desmin, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vimentin, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen I, lysozyme, CD 68 and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α). In all the studied ruminants, Ito cells reacted with desmin and vimentin antibodies, Kupffer cells were evidenced only with lysozyme-immunopositivity, and both displayed a charac-teristic distribution in the hepatic lobular/acinar structure. The results obtained, not only contribute to the knowledge of ruminant wild species, but also help to define a normal structure reference for the diagnosis and treatment of liver dis-eases.