Fine structural characteristics of the hepatic sinusoidal walls of the goldfish (Carassius auratus).

Fine structural characteristics of hepatic sinusoidal walls of the goldfish were described. Kupffer's stellate cells (macrophages) are few in number in the sinusoidal endothelial lining of this fish. Very rarely macrophages, whose small cytoplasmic protrusion is sometimes inserted between two endothelial cells, are localized in the sinusoidal lumen in contact with the endothelial cell. Typical desmosomes are frequently seen between the two endothelial cells, between the endothelial cell and the Ito cell (perisinusoidal fat storing cell and fibroblast-like cell), between the endothelial cell and the hepatocyte, between two Ito cells, and between the Ito cell and the hepatocyte. Numerous microfilaments running almost parallel to the cell surface are gathered near the desmosomal structure of these cells.