LIPOPIGMENTS IN THE BRUSHTAIL POSSUM, TRICHOSURUS-VULPECULA

Two lipopigments have been found in the hepatic and lymphoid tissues of the brushtail possum, Trichosurus vulpecula. One pigment was present in hepatocytes of five out of 15 (33%) possums from a site in the Wairarapa region in the North Island of New Zealand, but was absent from the livers of 34 possums from a site in the Manawatu. The pigment is possibly of dietary origin. An extra-hepatic lipopigment was found within macrophages in the lymph nodes of three out of 12 (25%) possums from the Wairarapa site and of five out of 14 (36%) possums from the Manawatu site. It was also found in periportal macrophages in the livers of two of the possums with hepatocellular pigmentation from the Wairarapa site. This latter pigment is ceroid, and probably reflects the degeneration of lipid.