X. EFFECTS OF DEFICIENCY 



121 



portal \'essels which are always easily found and are rendered even more 

 conspicuous when partially surrounded by bands of fibrosis (Figs. 17 and 

 18). All these features have been followed in the rat through the various 

 stages of the de\'elopment of ciri'hotic lesions, and they offer a reasonable 

 explanation for the apparent disagreement between observers studying 

 different stages of the same condition. When cases of human alcoholic 



Fig. 19. Paiiiffiu sect ion of the cirrhotic Uver of an alcoholic man. At the top of 

 the field a large branch of the hepatic artery (indicated by the upper white arrow) 

 is enme.shed by fibrous tissue. The portal area so identified is fibrotic and to this 

 extent the distribution of the lesion is periportal. But, as in the rat, there is no 

 fibrosis around terminal j)ortal vessels (indicated by the white arrow at the lower 

 left). This region is enlarged in P'ig. 20. Hemato.\3din and eosin stain; X200. 



cirrhosis are reexamined with these considerations in mind, similar features 

 are encountered. 



In studying sections of livers from cases of so-called portal cirrhosis in 

 alcoholic men, we have been able to demonstrate repeatedly that fibrosis 

 is rarely present around the terminal portal venules, Init of course is abun- 

 dant around many portions of the large conducting veins (Figs. 19 and 20). 



In the latter sense only is this cirrhosis portal. But if this is accepted as 

 the definition of the term, then so must it be employed with reference to 

 the choline-deficient rat. By this standard, the (cirrhosis in choline-deficient 

 rats is as much portal as that in human alcoholics. Conversely the cirrhosis 



