Light micrograph of cholestasis of a human liver. Cholestasis is a condition where bile cannot flow from the liver to the duodenum, due to either an obstruction in the bile duct system, or metabolic causes (frequently drug-induced). Pruritus (itching) and jaundice are frequent symptoms. There are brown granules in the hepatocyte (liver cell) cytoplasm, near the nucleus. The Kupffer cells have phagocytosed large amounts of bile.