Lipofuscins – microscopy image

Lipofuscins are intracellular lipid-rich pigments rich that represent accumulation of undigested fragments of the plasma membrane in autophagic vacuoles. They are considered a normal age-related finding in several cellular types and are usually abundant in the heart and liver of older animals. Lipofuscins can also be found in animals suffering from wasting diseases, causing the organs to exhibit a brownish colouration that is often associated with cardiac and/or hepatic atrophy (brown atrophy of the heart and liver). In the heart, lipofuscins appear as brownish cytoplasmic granules located around the poles of myocytic nuclei (H&E, 400x).