Interleukin 6 alleviates hepatic steatosis and ischemia/reperfusion injury in mice with fatty liver disease

Feng Hong, Svetlana Radaeva, Hong‐Na Pan, Zhigang Tian, Richard Veech, Bin Gao – 7 March 2007 – Fatty liver, formerly associated predominantly with excessive alcohol intake, is now also recognized as a complication of obesity and an important precursor state to more severe forms of liver pathology indluding ischemia/reperfusion injury. No standard protocol for treating fatty liver exists at this time. We therefore examined the effects of 10 days of interleukin 6 (IL‐6) injection in 3 murine models of fatty liver: leptin deficient ob/ob mice, ethanol‐fed mice, and mice fed a high‐fat diet.

Serum bilirubin levels in the U.S. Population: Gender effect and inverse correlation with colorectal cancer

Stephen D. Zucker, Paul S. Horn, Kenneth E. Sherman – 7 March 2007 – Bilirubin, the primary end product of heme catabolism, is a key marker of liver and hematological disorders, and important cytoprotective properties have been ascribed to this bile pigment. The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a comprehensive assessment of health and nutrition in the United States, was analyzed to determine the demographics and correlates of serum bilirubin levels in the general population.

New mechanism of selective killing of activated hepatic stellate cells

Milan Dodig, Kevin D. Mullen – 7 March 2007 – Background & Aims: Hepatic stellate cells play an important role in liver fibrogenesis, and hepatic stellate cell death may be involved in the termination of this response. Methods: Molecular mechanisms of hepatic stellate cell killing were studied in hepatic stellate cell/Kupffer cell cocultures. Results: Lipopolysaccharide stimulation of hepatic stellate cell/Kupffer cell cocultures, but not of hepatic stellate cell monocultures, induced profound alterations of hepatic stellate cell morphology and hepatic stellate cell death.

Sex is a major determinant of CYP3A4 expression in human liver

Renzo Wolbold, Kathrin Klein, Oliver Burk, Andreas K. Nüssler, Peter Neuhaus, Michel Eichelbaum, Matthias Schwab, Ulrich M. Zanger – 7 March 2007 – Many drugs that are substrates of CYP3A4, the major human drug‐metabolizing cytochrome P450 (CYP), show higher clearance in women than in men. Although this effect is believed to be related to drug metabolism, the underlying cause has not been elucidated.

Effects of cell proliferation on the uptake of transferrin‐bound iron by human hepatoma cells

Adrian W. M. Lee, Phillip S. Oates, Deborah Trinder – 7 March 2007 – The effects of cellular proliferation on the uptake of transferrin‐bound iron (Tf‐Fe) and expression of transferrin receptor‐1 (TfR1) and transferrin receptor‐2 (TfR2) were investigated using a human hepatoma (HuH7) cell line stably transfected with TfR1 antisense RNA expression vector to suppress TfR1 expression.

Ontogeny, distribution, and possible functional implications of an unusual aquaporin, AQP8, in mouse liver

Domenico Ferri, Amelia Mazzone, Giuseppa Esterina Liquori, Grazia Cassano, Maria Svelto, Giuseppe Calamita – 7 March 2007 – Aquaporins are channel proteins widely expressed in nature and known to facilitate the rapid movement of water across numerous cell membranes. A mammalian aquaporin, AQP8, was recently discovered and found to have a very distinct evolutionary pathway. To understand the reason for this divergence, here we define the ontogeny and exact subcellular localization of AQP8 in mouse liver, a representative organ transporting large volumes of water for secretion of bile.

Establishment of a highly efficient gene transfer system for mouse fetal hepatic progenitor cells

Kentaro Yasuchika, Tetsuro Hirose, Hideaki Fujii, Shoshiro Oe, Koichi Hasegawa, Takahisa Fujikawa, Hisaya Azuma, Yoshio Yamaoka – 7 March 2007 – Because of a donor shortage problem in liver transplantation, cell transplantation has been anticipated as a useful bridge or substitute therapy, and has necessitated the development of cell sources other than donated organs. Therefore, the use of fetal hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) is now being focused on.

Gene array analysis and the liver

Nicholas A. Shackel, Mark D. Gorrell, Geoffrey W. McCaughan – 7 March 2007 – Functional genomics methods promise a previously unparalleled high‐throughput examination of intrahepatic gene expression. Profiling transcriptomes as well as examining the coordinate expression of many genes in diverse pathobiologic pathways is now pssible with techniques such as gene array analysis. However, the nature of the hepatic transcriptome, limitations of the functional genomics methokologies used, and analysis of the data generated are often poorly understood.

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