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Kupffer cells, also known as stellate macrophages and Kupffer–Browicz cells, are specialized cells localized in the liver within the lumen of the liver sinusoids and are adhesive to their endothelial cells which make up the blood vessel walls. Kupffer cells comprise the largest population of tissue-resident macrophages in the body.
The main liver cells are called hepatocytes; however, there are other cells that can be observed in a liver sample such as Kupffer cells (macrophages). [2] The liver is the biggest gland of the body. It has a wide variety of functions that range from the destruction of old blood cells to the control of the whole metabolism of macromolecules. [3]
The Kupffer cells can take up and destroy foreign material such as bacteria. Hepatocytes are separated from the sinusoids by the space of Disse. Hepatic stellate cells are present in the space of Disse and are involved in scar formation in response to liver damage. Defenestration happens when LSECs are lost rendering the sinusoid as an ordinary ...
The cells are primarily monocytes and macrophages, and they accumulate in lymph nodes and the spleen. The Kupffer cells of the liver and tissue histiocytes are also part of the MPS. The mononuclear phagocyte system and the monocyte macrophage system refer to two different entities, often mistakenly understood as one.
It is increasingly accepted that LSECs and Kupffer cells play complementary roles in the hepatic blood clearance process, referred to as the dual cell principle of waste clearance (6): LSECs clear macromolecules and nanoparticles roughly <200 nm by clathrin-mediated endocytosis whereas Kupffer cells clear larger particles >200 nm by phagocytosis.
Each cell has several long cytoplasmic protrusions that extend from the cell body and wrap around the sinusoids. [5] The lipid droplets in the cell body store vitamin A as retinyl palmitate. [6] Hepatic stellate cells store 50–80% of the body's vitamin A. [6] The function and role of quiescent hepatic stellate cells is unclear.
Kupffer cells are scattered between endothelial cells; they are part of the reticuloendothelial system and phagocytose spent erythrocytes. Stellate (Ito) cells store vitamin A and produce extracellular matrix and collagen; they are also distributed amongst endothelial cells but are difficult to visualise by light microscopy. [citation needed]
The studies showed that the cell system that Aschoff described as RES in the liver were liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs), but not liver macrophages (Kupffer cells). [6] In most present-day text books and articles the term RES is used synonymously with MPS.