Ultrastructure of the Hepatic Sinusoid of the Goat Capra Hircus

I t is generally agreed that the hepatic sinusoidal lining is discontinuous and that no basement membrane as such exists in the livers of rats (7-9, 14-16, 19, 20, 22), mice (5, 10, 11, 21), dogs (16), rabbits (1, 18), pig embryos (1), frogs (8), developed chick embryos (12), and humans (4, 6, 16). However, several investigators have called attention to patches of "basement membranel ike" material in the space of Disse (5, 10, 18, 20, 21), and actual basement membranes such as are seen around capillaries have been reported in certain pathologic states of the fiver (17, 19). Recently, Wood reported the finding of a complete basement membrane around the sinusoidal blood vessels of calves and contrasted it with the situation in rats, in which no basement membranes were demonstrated when prepared by the same methods in his laboratory (22). Furthermore, he found that the endothelial lining in calf was continuous, though attenuated in many places. We examined the liver of the goat, which is a ruminant like the calf, and consistently found a definite basement membrane surrounding the sinusoidal blood vessels, and a discontinuous endothelial lining.