Slide 1
Is a low power view of the needle biopsy. Even at low power magnification you can see that the portal tracts are expanded by an inflammatory infiltrate of lymphocytes.

Slide 2
Is a higher magnification of a portion of one classic hepatic lobule. The portal tract shown in the upper right hand corner is expanded by a chronic inflammatory infiltrate of lymphocytes. Clusters of lymphocytes and hyperplastic Kupffer cells are scattered throughout the hepatic lobule as well. There is also spotty necrosis (focal necrosis of individual hepatocytes). The constellation of findings of chronic inflammation, necrosis, and regeneration has been termed by pathologists: "lobular disarray".

Slide 3
The body rids itself of the hepatitis virus by killing virus-bearing hepatocytes. Cytokines released by immune cells induce infected hepatocytes to undergo programmed cell death, or "apoptosis". The cytoplasm of apoptotic hepatocytes becomes densely eosinophilic, and the nuclei become shrunken, pyknotic, and fragmented. Also known as acidophilic bodies, apoptotic bodies, or Councilman bodies (arrows), these intensely eosinophilic dead hepatocytes are engulfed by Kupffer cells and digested. In most cases, viral hepatitis is self-limited and the liver is regenerated without complication.