Review The Space of Disse: The Liver Hub in Health and Disease Carlos Sanz-García 1 , Anabel Fernández-Iglesias 2,3 , Jordi Gracia-Sancho 2,3,4 , Luis Alfonso Arráez-Aybar 5 , Yulia A. Nevzorova 1,6,7 and Francisco Javier Cubero 1,7,* 1 Department of Immunology, Ophthalmology & ENT, Complutense University School of Medicine, 28040 Madrid, Spain;
[email protected] (C.S.-G.);
[email protected] (Y.A.N.) 2 Liver Vascular Biology Research Group, IDIBAPS, 08036 Barcelona, Spain;
[email protected] (A.F.-I.);
[email protected] (J.G.-S.) 3 Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), 28029 Madrid, Spain 4 Hepatology, Department of Biomedical Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland 5 Department of Anatomy and Embriology, Complutense University School of Medicine, 28040 Madrid, Spain;
[email protected] 6 Department of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, 52074 Aachen, Germany 7 12 de Octubre Health Research Institute (imas12), 28040 Madrid, Spain * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +34-394-1385 Received: 13 December 2020; Accepted: 25 January 2021; Published: 3 February 2021 Abstract: Since it was first described by the German anatomist and histologist, Joseph Hugo Vincenz Disse, the structure and functions of the space of Disse, a thin perisinusoidal area between the endothelial cells and hepatocytes filled with blood plasma, have acquired great importance in liver disease. The space of Disse is home for the hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), the major fibrogenic players in the liver. Quiescent HSCs (qHSCs) store vitamin A, and upon activation they lose their retinol reservoir and become activated.