592 THE LIVER. 



cency and peculiar appearance of the tissue may be best seen by slicing 

 off a thin section and holding it up to the light. When the lesion is less 

 considerable the liver may be of the usual size, and may feel harder than 

 normal, and here and there a translucent mottling may be evident, or 

 the degeneration may be apparent only on the addition of staining 

 agents. When, as is frequently the case, it is associated with cirrhosis, 

 the liver may be small and nodular, and the appearance of the cut sur- 

 face varies, depending upon the character of the cirrhotic change and 

 the presence or absence of fat. 



This degeneration usually commences in the walls of the intralobular 

 blood-vessels, causing them to become thickened and translucent (Fig. 

 312). Their lumen may be nearly or entirely occluded. The liver cells 

 may be squeezed by the thickening of the vessels and may become par- 

 tially or completely atrophied, or they may be fatty. Amyloid degener- 

 ation may also involve the iuterlobular vessels, and in advanced stages 

 larger and smaller areas of liver tissue may be almost completely con- 

 verted into the dense, refractile substance in which here and there flat- 

 tened liver cells may be seen. 



Amyloid degeneration of the liver is usually associated with a simi- 

 lar lesion of other organs. 



Glycogen Degeneration. This may occur in the liver cells in diabetes. 



PIGMENTATION OF THE LIVER. 



As a result of severe malarial poisoning a variable amount of brown, 

 black, or reddish pigment is often found in the blood. This is usually 

 mostly taken up by the leucocytes and deposited in various parts of the 



FIG. 359. -MALARIAL PIGMENTATION OF THE LIVER. 



The pigment is largely in the exfoliated endothelium within the capillaries. Pigmented malarial parasites 

 may be seen in some of the cells. 



