Figure 1.

Brain cells called astrocytes from a 51-year-old alcoholic patient with cirrhosis who died in a coma (hepatic encephalopathy [HE]). The image shows both normal astrocytes (N), which have dark nuclei, and Alzheimer type II astrocytes (Alz), characteristic of HE, which have pale, enlarged nuclei.

SOURCE: Modified from Butterworth 2002.