Manuel Pérez‐Ruiz, Josefa Ros, Manuel Morales‐Ruiz, Miguel Navasa, Jordi Colmenero, Luis Ruiz‐del‐Arbol, Pilar Cejudo, Joan Clària, Francisca Rivera, Vicente Arroyo, Juan Rodés, Wladimiro Jiménez – 30 December 2003 – Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an angiogenic peptide with vascular permeability and relaxing properties. This study assessed whether peritoneal macrophages of cirrhotic patients can be up‐regulated to produce VEGF under proper stimulatory conditions. Macrophages were isolated from ascites.

Olavo B. Amaral, João Quevedo, Roger Walz, Flávio Kapczinski – 30 December 2003

Lazar T. Sumanovski, Edouard Battegay, Michael Stumm, Maaike van der Kooij, Cornel C. Sieber – 30 December 2003 – Systemic and especially splanchnic arterial vasodilation accompany chronic portal hypertension. Different soluble mediators causing this vasodilation have been proposed, the strongest evidence being for nitric oxide (NO). No data exist if structural vascular changes may partly account for this vasodilatory state.

Kenji Ikeda, Satoshi Saitoh, Yasuji Arase, Kazuaki Chayama, Yoshiyuki Suzuki, Masahiro Kobayashi, Akihito Tsubota, Mizuho Kobayashi, Ikuo Nakamura, Naoya Murashima, Hiromitsu Kumada, Masahiro Kawanishi – 30 December 2003 – The activity of interferon (IFN) is not elucidated from the viewpoint of cancer prevention in chronic hepatitis C patients en masse. The hepatocellular carcinogenesis rate was analyzed statistically in 1,643 patients with chronic hepatitis C: 1,191 patients with IFN therapy and 452 without IFN therapy.

Luc Barraud, Sylviane Guerret, Michele Chevallier, Christelle Borel, Catherine Jamard, Christian Trepo, Christopher P. Wild, Lucyna Cova – 30 December 2003 – Epidemiological studies have suggested synergistic interactions between chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) exposure in the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), although the molecular mechanisms of their interactions are still not understood.

Arthur J. McCullough, Yngve Falck‐Ytter – 30 December 2003

Toshiaki Nakashima, Yoshikuni Sakamoto, Koji Inaba, Hironori Mitsuyoshi, Hiroki Ishikawa, Yoshiki Nakajima, Motonari Sakai, Toshihide Shima, Kei Kashima – 30 December 2003 – To clarify the relationship between the occurrence of unusual trihydroxy bile acids, namely hyocholic acid, ursocholic acid (UCA), and ω‐muricholic acid (ω‐MCA) in urine and liver disease severity, urinary bile acids were analyzed by gas‐liquid chromatography in acute and late phases of acute hepatitis and before and after ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) loading in healthy adults and liver cirrhosis patients.

Peter Stärkel, Yves Horsmans, Christine Sempoux, Christine De Saeger, Johan Wary, Pascale Lause, Dominique Maiter, Luc Lambotte – 30 December 2003 – Several studies have emphasized the involvement of transcription factors, cytokines, and proto‐oncogenes in initiating the regenerative process after partial hepatectomy.

Aaron M. Byrne, John J. Lemasters, Anna‐Liisa Nieminen – 30 December 2003 – Previously, we showed that the oxidant chemical,tert‐butylhydroperoxide (t‐BuOOH), induces a mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) in intact hepatocytes, causing lethal cell injury. Here, we investigated the role of mitochondrial free Ca2+ in t‐BuOOH cytotoxicity to 1‐day‐cultured rat hepatocytes using confocal microscopy of autofluorescence and parameter‐indicating fluorophores.

Satoshi Mochida, Masahiro Arai, Akihiko Ohno, Fumio Yamanobe, Keiko Ishikawa, Atsushi Matsui, Ikuo Maruyama, Hisao Kato, Kenji Fujiwara – 30 December 2003 – Activated Kupffer cells provoke massive liver necrosis after endotoxin stimulation through microcirculatory disturbance caused by sinusoidal fibrin deposition in rats undergoing 70% hepatectomy. In these rats, serum activities of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) and alanine transaminase (ALT) were increased at 1 and 5 hours, respectively, following endotoxin administration.