Martin Bickel, Karl‐Heinz Baringhaus, Martin Gerl, Volkmar Günzler, Jiri Kanta, Ludwig Schmidts, Michael Stapf, Georg Tschank, Klaus Weidmann, Ulrich Werner – 30 December 2003 – Fibrosis and cirrhosis of the liver are often the result of chronic liver damage by a variety of different agents. Pathological accumulation of collagen, disruption of the lobular structure, and impaired hepatocellular function frequently lead to systemic involvement and fatal complications.

Terrence M. Donohue, Rowen K. Zetterman, Zhi‐Qi Zhang‐Gouillon, Samuel W. French – 30 December 2003 – Ethanol consumption slows down the rate of hepatic protein catabolism. The present study was conducted to determine whether ethanol consumption, given by voluntary (pair) feeding or by intragastric administration, affected the peptidase activities of the proteasome in rat liver. Rats were pair‐fed liquid diets containing either ethanol or isocaloric maltose‐dextrin.

Simona Berardi, Bruno Stieger, Sandra Wächter, Brigitte O'Neill, Stephan Krähenbühl – 30 December 2003 – Butyrobetaine transport into the liver was studied using isolated rat hepatocyte plasma membrane vesicles. In the presence of a sodium chloride gradient, an overshoot could be observed, indicating active sodium‐dependent transport. A similar overshoot was recorded in the presence of lithium, but not of potassium, cesium, or choline chloride.

Yasuhiro Asahina, Yoshinori Ito, Catherine H. Wu, George Y. Wu – 30 December 2003 – DNA ribonucleases directed against direct repeat 1 (DR1) and polyadenylation signal regions of hepatitis B virus (HBV) messages were prepared with phosphorothioate modifications and varying arm lengths. DNA ribonucleases modified throughout the entire molecule and in the target binding arms were completely protected from degradation after incubation with serum. DNA ribonuclease modified only at the 5′ and 3′ termini remained 92.9% intact after incubation.

Norah A. Terrault, Shuan Zhou, Robert W. McCory, Timothy L. Pruett, John R. Lake, John P. Roberts, Nancy L. Ascher, Teresa L. Wright – 30 December 2003 – Mutations in the “a” determinant of the surface gene have been associated with failure of hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIg) prophylaxis.

Thomas D. Boyer – 30 December 2003

Wayne W. LaMorte, Michael L. Booker, Susannah Kay – 30 December 2003 – Certain phosphatidylcholine (PC) molecular species appear to be secreted into bile preferentially, but the mechanism for this selection remains obscure. We used multivariate analysis to examine the relationship between PC structure and the odds of secretion for individual PC species secreted into bile. PC was isolated from Folch extracts of bile and liver from rats, and individual molecular species of PC were quantified with reverse‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Michael Charlton, Eric Seaberg, Russell Wiesner, James Everhart, Rowen Zetterman, John Lake, Katherine Detre, Jay Hoofnagle – 30 December 2003 – End‐stage liver disease secondary to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the leading indication for liver transplantation in the United States. Recurrence of HCV infection is nearly universal.

Stanley M. Lemon, Francis V. Chisari, Michael M. C. Lai, Kusuya Nishioka, Shunji Mishiro, Leslye Johnson – 30 December 2003

Ákos Zsembery, Carlo Spirlì, Anna Granato, Nicholas F. LaRusso, Lajos Okolicsanyi, Gaetano Crepaldi, Mario Strazzabosco – 30 December 2003 – Biliary epithelial cells (cholangiocytes) are responsible for rapid regulation of bile volume and alkalinity. Secretin and other hormones raising intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) concentrations promote biliary HCO3 secretion by stimulating apical Cl− channels and Cl−/HCO3− exchange (AE2).