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Our report concerns gastric carcinoid tumors in a man and his younger sister who had no endocrine symptoms. The tumors in both cases were multiple, located in the corpus, and showed no significant differences in light microscopic and immunohistochemical examination. In electron microscopic observation, the endocrine granules of tumor cells were roughly classified into four types: granules with fine granular content with low electron density, irregularly striped granules with medium electron density, concentrically laminated or regularly striped granules, or smaller and almost uniformly high electron-dense granules in which it was difficult to recognize the internal structure. From the sequential morphological changes of the granules, we have considered that each type of granule reflects various stages of granulogenesis, although the possibility that they are distinct and contain different hormones or chemical mediators is not absolutely ruled out.

To investigate the early in vivo response of hepatic stellate cells in biliary fibrosis, we examined rat livers during the first 7 days after bile duct ligation using light microscopy, immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, and immunoelectron microscopy. At day 1 after bile duct ligation, alpha-smooth muscle actin-positive fibroblasts appeared and then increased in number around the proliferating bile ductules. With time, the destruction of the external limiting plate became accentuated because of the invasion of the proliferating bile ductules and periductural fibrosis. At day 7, stromal cells containing fat droplets appeared in the fibrous tissue adjacent to the periportal parenchyma; these are termed denuded hepatic stellate cells. In the fibrous tissue disconnected from the liver parenchyma, the denuded hepatic stellate cells were replaced by myofibroblast-like cells. Meanwhile, the expression of transforming growth factor-beta1 on biliary epithelial cells increased. These results indicate the dual origin of myofibroblasts in experimental biliary fibrosis, the periductural and periductal fibroblasts in the initial stage, and the denuded hepatic stellate cells in the subsequent stage. These two types of stromal cells may undergo myofibroblastic transformation by the transforming growth factor-beta1 secreted by the proliferating biliary epithelial cells.