LlPIN-CONTENT OF THE LlVER. 



43 



Sudan III stains the fine fat droplets a peculiar brownish 

 red; while the larger fat droplets take a deep brick-red to a 

 yellow or pale buff color. 



Scharlach R stains the fine fat-droplets a brownish-red, the 

 larger ones a deep bright red. 



Nile-blue sulphate stains the majority of the fine droplets a 

 pink or lavender color. The majority of the larger droplets 

 stain red, some pink, some pink-violet, some purple, some deep 

 blue. 



Indophenol, No differential staining shown. 

 Benda's Method. Gave no differential reaction. 

 Stains for fatty acids and soaps negative. 



Simple staining with hematoxylin and eosin showed a typical 

 ground-glass appearance in the cells containing the fine fat 

 droplets. 



From these fat reactions it is evident that the livers of these 

 two cases of dyspituitarism show an unusual lipin content. The 

 presence of numerous anisotropic droplets, staining a lighter gray 

 with osmic acid, brownish or yellowish-red with Sudan III or 

 Scharlach R, and pale pink with Nile-blue sulphate, makes it 

 very probable that these are cholesterol-esters. Other lipoids may 

 be mixed with these or with the glycerin-esters. The lipin com- 

 bination may be very complex. Our staining methods do not 

 satisfactorily differentiate these. They permit us to say, how- 

 ever, that these fatty changes are not those of ordinary fatty 

 infiltration, but represent a mixed glycerin-ester and cholesterol- 

 ester lipoidosis. It is evident that many of the liver cells contain 

 cholesterol. Whether lecithin is present it is impossible to say. 



This cholesterol lipoidosis was not confined to the liver, but 

 occurs to a marked degree in the adrenals, and to a lesser degree 

 in the panniculi and other organs and tissues (aorta, spleen, etc.). 

 In pituitary dystrophia there occurs, therefore, a peculiar abnormal 

 lipin metabolism characterized by cholesterol infiltration or reten- 

 tion (cholesterol steatosis). The condition may then be compared 

 to the cholesterol infiltrations obtained by overfeeding with 

 cholesterol, to the lipoidosis of diabetic lipoidaemia and that of 

 Gaucher's disease. 



In addition the liver shows a peculiar intraperipheral zonal 



