George K. Michalopoulos, William C. Bowen, Karen Mulè, Juan Carlos Lopez‐Talavera, Wendy Mars – 30 December 2003 – Organoid cultures of hepatocytes in the presence of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) display characteristic histologic organization. Biliary epithelium covers the surface of the tissue exposed to the culture medium. Hepatocytes, stellate cells and endothelial cells compose the underlying structures.

Adnan Said, Nasia Safdar, Michael Lucey – 30 December 2003

Stephen O. Brennan, Ghassan Maghzal, Benjamin L. Shneider, Ronald Gordon, Margret S. Magid, Peter M. George – 30 December 2003 – The proposita and her sister had chronically elevated liver function test results, and needle biopsy specimens showed scattered eosinophilic inclusions within the hepatocytes. On immunoperoxidase staining, the inclusions reacted strongly with anti‐fibrinogen antisera; on electron‐microscopic (EM) examination, the material appeared confined to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and was densely packed into tubular structures with a swirling fingerprint appearance.

Man‐Fung Yuen, Ronnie Tung‐Ping Poon, Ching‐Lung Lai, Sheung‐Tat Fan, Chung‐Mau Lo, Ka‐Wah Wong, Wai Man Wong, Benjamin Chun‐Yu Wong – 30 December 2003 – Although various types of treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been tried, the prognosis remains dismal, especially in patients with advanced stage of the disease. Somatostatin analogues exert antitumor effects. HCC have been shown to exhibit somatostatin receptors. The present randomized placebo‐controlled study aimed at examining the efficacy of long‐acting octreotide (Sandostatin LAR) for the treatment of advanced HCC.

David Bernstein – 30 December 2003

Hans‐Peter Bode, LiFu Wang, Doris Cassio, M. Fatima Leite, Marie V. St‐Pierre, Keiji Hirata, Keisuke Okazaki, Marvin L. Sears, Paolo Meda, Michael H. Nathanson, Jean‐François Dufour – 30 December 2003 – Hepatocytes and other digestive epithelia exchange second messengers and coordinate their functions by communicating through gap junctions. However, little is known about intercellular communication in cholangiocytes. The aim of this study was to examine expression and regulation of gap junctions in cholangiocytes.

Roland Reinehr, Dirk Graf, Richard Fischer, Freimut Schliess, Dieter Häussinger – 30 December 2003 – The effect of hyperosmolarity on CD95 membrane targeting and CD95 ligand (CD95L)–induced apoptosis was studied in rat hepatocytes. CD95 showed a predominant intracellular localization in normoosmotically exposed rat hepatocytes, whereas hyperosmotic exposure induced, within 1 hour, CD95 trafficking to the plasma membrane followed by activation of caspase‐3 and ‐8.

Frédéric Moal, Daniel Chappard, Jianhua Wang, Eric Vuillemin, Sophie Michalak‐Provost, Marie Christine Rousselet, Frédéric Oberti, Paul Calès – 30 December 2003 – Fractal analysis measures the complexity of geometric structures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of fractal analysis in liver fibrosis. A total of 77 rats were included: 10 sham, 46 with fibrosis secondary to bile duct ligation (BDL), and 21 with fibrosis due to CCl4 intoxication.

Kerstin Koerber, Gabriele Sass, Alexandra K. Kiemer, Angelika M. Vollmar, Gisa Tiegs – 30 December 2003 – Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) has been shown to play an important role in the development of liver injury. iNOS deficiency protects mice from hemorrhage/resuscitation as well as from cytokine‐mediated liver injury, for example, after administration of concanavalin A (con A).

Shuji Matsumura, Hiroto Kita, Xiao‐Song He, Aftab A. Ansari, Zhe‐Xiong Lian, Judy van de Water, Kazuhide Yamamoto, Takao Tsuji, Ross L. Coppel, Marshall Kaplan, M. Eric Gershwin – 30 December 2003 – Growing evidence has implicated the involvement of autoreactive T lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC).