Figure 1. Cold preservation most severely affects the sinusoidal microvasculature, whereas the endothelial cells lining the larger vessels and the hepatocytes and bile ducts are less severely affected. This is a plastic-embedded thick tissue section of a liver biopsy obtained after cold preservation, just prior to implantation in the recipient. In this case, the endothelial cells lining the portal vein and sinusoids(arrow) show only mild injury, because most are elongated and attached to the underlying connective tissue.