Abstract
In a series of experiments upon rabbits to determine the tissue reactions to the infection by the Streptococcus viridans and having special reference to the heart, arteries, and kidneys, several sporadic examples of necrosis of the liver were encountered. Living cultures of Streptococcus fecalis, Streptococcus mitis, and Streptococcus salivarius were used. Repeated inoculations, from three to five, had been made at intervals of four days.
The earliest necroses appeared in eleven days and consisted of small focal areas in the peripheral and mid-zones of the liver lobules. In them only a few cells appeared to be affected and seemed to be sporadically picked out in the midst of the liver column. Debris or the ghosts of cells, was all that remained-There appeared to be some edema in the involved area but evidence of thrombosis in the neighboring sinuses was not always demonstrable. In some instances a granular thrombus with fibrin threads was present immediately about the lesion, and at times, extended towards the central vein. Similar thrombi, however, were also observed in areas not showing necrosis.
Some liver columns appeared to show change antecedent to necrosis. In them the cells showed a diminution of nuclear staining with an eosinophile character of the protoplasm. In the vicinity of these again, thromboses were wanting.
Other areas again showed much more advanced necrosis involving not only focal areas but entire lobules or even several neighboring lobules. In all of these instances the necrosis involved the central and mid-zone, while some liver columns still persisted in the vicinity of the portal sheath. In these larger areas thromboses of the mixed fibrinous variety were common. The sinuses of the affected areas were irregularly involved, but not constantly, the central vein being most commonly plugged.
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