Glycogenosis, light micrograph

Light micrograph of glycogenosis in a human liver. Hepatic glycogenosis is characterised by excessive glycogen accumulation in hepatocytes (liver cells) and represents a hepatic complication of diabetes that is more likely to occur in patients with longstanding poorly controlled type 1 diabetes. It can also be due to glycogen storage disease type I (GSD I), an inherited disease that results in the liver being unable to properly break down stored glycogen. After conventional tissue preparation (fixation by formaldehyde and staining with haematoxylin and eosin) the glycogen is usually removed from the hepatocytes, which appear diffusely swollen with a pale cytoplasm and accentuated cell membranes, frequently with displacement of the nuclei to the cell periphery., by JOSE CALVO / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY