Yutaka Yata, Philip Gotwals, Victor Koteliansky, Don C. Rockey – 30 December 2003 – Transforming growth factor (TGF) β isoforms (in particular, TGF‐β1) play a central role in the fibrogenic response to injury in many organs, including the liver. Although TGF‐β is clearly important in fibrogenesis, a number of issues related to therapeutic antagonism have emerged. For example, the long‐term effect of TGF‐β antagonism is unknown; furthermore, controversy exists as to appropriate levels of TGF‐β inhibition.

Timothy L. Pruett – 30 December 2003

Cecília M. P. Rodrigues, Susana Solá, Dora Brites – 30 December 2003 – Increased levels of unconjugated bilirubin, the end‐product of heme catabolism, are detrimental to the central nervous system. To examine the role of apoptosis in bilirubin‐induced toxicity and to characterize the biochemical pathway of cell death, we exposed developing rat brain neurons to purified unconjugated bilirubin at concentrations below and above saturation of human serum albumin. Isolated neurons treated with bilirubin showed increased levels of apoptosis.

Amin Rostami‐Hodjegan, Geoffrey T. Tucker – 30 December 2003

Daniel Ortiz, Irwin M. Arias, Laura McKellar, Vincent P. Stanton – 30 December 2003

Hajime Honda, Kenichi Ikejima, Miyoko Hirose, Mutsuko Yoshikawa, Tie Lang, Nobuyuki Enomoto, Tsuneo Kitamura, Yoshiyuki Takei, Nobuhiro Sato – 30 December 2003 – In this study, we investigated hepatic fibrogenesis caused by long‐term thioacetamide (TAA) administration in ob/ob mice, a naturally occurring leptin deficient animal. In the lean littermates, prominent hepatic fibrosis, as well as positive staining for α smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA), was induced by treatment with TAA (200 μg/g, IP, 3 times per week) for 4 to 8 weeks as expected.

Andrea Trombetti, Emiliano Giostra, Gilles Mentha, Francesco Negro, Rene Rizzoli – 30 December 2003

Tibor Bakács, Jitendra N. Mehrishi – 30 December 2003

Robert P. Perrillo, Ching‐Lung Lai, Yun‐Fan Liaw, Jules L. Dienstag, Eugene R. Schiff, Solko W. Schalm, E. Jenny Heathcote, Nathaniel A. Brown, Mark Atkins, Mary Woessner, Stephen D. Gardner – 30 December 2003 – Elevated alanine transaminase (ALT) levels and low serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA predict a higher likelihood of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) loss in patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with interferon. Predictors of HBeAg loss in patients treated with lamivudine are not known.

Keiji Hirata, Jean‐François Dufour, Kazunori Shibao, Roy Knickelbein, Allison F. O'Neill, Hans‐Peter Bode, Doris Cassio, Marie V. St‐Pierre, Nicholas F. LaRusso, M. Fatima Leite, Michael H. Nathanson – 30 December 2003 – Cytosolic Ca2+ (Cai2+) regulates secretion of bicarbonate and other ions in the cholangiocyte. In other cell types, this second messenger acts through Ca2+ waves, Ca2+ oscillations, and other subcellular Ca2+ signaling patterns, but little is known about the subcellular organization of Ca2+ signaling in cholangiocytes.