AIM:To study the pathway of apoptosis in chronic liverdisease and the role of mitochondria in programmed celldeath.METHODS:Liver biopsy specimens from 72 cases of chronichepatitis and 29 cases of post hepatitis cirrhosis werestudied.The pro-apoptotic protein Fas,FasL,Bax and theanti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2,Bcl-x,,Bcl-2α were studiedimmunohistochemically by SP method.Specimens from15 cases of chronic hepatitis and post hepatitis cirrhosiswere examined for their ultramicrostructures with specialattention to their mitochondrial changes.Specimens from3 normal adults(demised in traffic accidents)were usedas control.RESULTS:The expression of proapoptotic proteins(Fas,FasL,Bax)in hepatocytes was significantly higher in thechronic hepatitis group than in the cirrhosis group(P<0.001).In the study of ultramicrostructure 364 hepatocytes wereexamined,from 12 cases of chronic hepatitis(including 10mild cases,1 moderate case and 1 severe case).Out of364 hepatocytes 40(11.0%)hepatocytes were found withvarious kinds of destruction in their mitochondria.Ruptureof the outer membrane of mitochondria and the leakageof matrix from the intermembrane space were definitelydemonstrated.The ultramicrostructural changes ofmitochondria in the chronic hepatitis group werestatistically higher than that in normal adults control group(x~2=4.32,P<0.05).CONCLUSION:The result of the study was in support ofthe current view that the apoptotic process in chronichepatitis patients were largely along the intrinsic pathway(mitochondrial pathway),given that the intrinsic andextrinsic pathways could interlinked(converged)at somepoint on their progression,also it is impossible at presentto exclude the possibility that the two pathways could bechosen by hepatocytes in parallel simultaneously.Chen NL,Bai L,Li L,Chen PL,Zhang C,Liu CY,Deng T,Chen H,Jia KM,Zhou ZQ.Apoptosis pathway of liver cells in chronichepatitis.World J Gastroenterol 2004;10(21):3201-3204http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/10/3201.asp AIM: To study the pathway of apoptosis in chronic liver disease and the role of mitochondria in programmed celldeath. METHODS: Liver biopsy specimens from 72 cases of chronic hepatitis and 29 cases of post hepatitis cirrhosis were staged. The pro-apoptotic protein Fas, FasL, Bax and theanti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, Bcl-x, Bcl-2α were studied immunohistochemically by SP method. Specimens from 15 cases of chronic hepatitis and post hepatitis cirrhosiswere examined for their ultramicrostructures with specialattention to their mitochondrial changes.Specimens from3 normal adults (demised in The accidents of using as control over the cirrhosis group (P <0.001). The study of ultramicrostructure 364 hepatocytes wereexamined, from 12 cases of chronic hepatitis (including 10 case cases, 1 moderate case and 1 severe case) .Out of 364 hepatocytes 40 (11.0%) hepatocytes were found w ithvarious kinds of destruction in the outer membrane of mitochondria and the leakage of matrix from the intermembrane space were definitely demonstrated. The ultramicrostructural changes of mitochondria in the chronic hepatitis group were statistically higher than that in normal adults control group (x ~ 2 = 4.32, P <0.05). CONCLUSION: The result of the study was in support of the current view that the apoptotic process in chronic hepatopathy who were substantially along the intrinsic pathway (mitochondrial pathway), given that the intrinsic andextrinsic pathways could interlinked (converged) at somepoint on their progression, also it is impossible at presentto exclude the possibility that the two pathways could bechosen by hepatocytes in parallel simultaneously. Chen NL, Bai L, Li L, Chen PL, Zhang C, Liu CY, Deng T, Chen H, Jia KM , Zhou ZQ. Apoptosis pathway of liver cells in chronic liver disease. World J Gastroenterol 2004; 10 (21): 3201-3204 http: //www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/10/3201.asp