S J Bulera, C A Sattler, H C Pitot – 1 June 1996 – A transgenic rat line carrying the alb‐SV40A transgene has been described by this laboratory. Several cell lines have been established from the livers of two of these rats. One of these cell lines, L37, exhibits a large nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio and a well‐differentiated cytoplasm containing numerous organelles. When L37 cells are placed into culture medium lacking necessary growth factors, cellular proliferation continues for 48 hours after medium change.

Q Xu, R B Scott, D T Tan, E A Shaffer – 1 June 1996 – Impaired gallbladder motility is an established factor in cholesterol gallstone formation. We assessed whether altered small intestinal smooth muscle contractility with slow transit might potentiate gallstone formation by further impeding enterohepatic cycling of bile acids. Ground squirrels were fed a 1% or a trace (controls) cholesterol diet. Small intestinal transit was evaluated from 51Cr distribution in conscious, fasted animals 20 minutes after infusion into the proximal jejunum.

W F Balistreri, R Grand, J H Hoofnagle, F J Suchy, F C Ryckman, D H Perlmutter, R J Sokol – 1 June 1996 – Biliary atresia (BA) is the end result of a destructive, inflammatory process that affects intra‐ and extrahepatic bile ducts, leading to fibrosis and obliteration of the biliary tract with the development of biliary cirrhosis. It is the commonest cause of chronic cholestasis in infants and children, and therefore is the most frequent indication for liver transplantation in this age group. The disease occurs worldwide, affecting an estimated 1 in 8,000 to 12,000 live births.

M Yano, H Kumada, M Kage, K Ikeda, K Shimamatsu, O Inoue, E Hashimoto, J H Lefkowitch, J Ludwig, K Okuda – 1 June 1996 – Most patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) develop chronic hepatitis. Unfortunately, the pathological evolution of this disease over time is not completely understood. We studied 70 HCV‐positive patients, from whom 2 to 10 liver biopsy specimens (mean, 3.9) had been obtained during an interval of 1 to 26 years (mean, 8.8 years).

K M Boberg, O Fausa, T Haaland, E Holter, O J Mellbye, A Spurkland, E Schrumpf – 1 June 1996 – Overlapping features between primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) have previously been noted. To assess systematically similarities between these disorders, we have evaluated 114 PSC patients (36 women; 78 men), all confirmed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC), according to a scoring system proposed by The International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group for the diagnosis of AIH.

H Saito, S Tada, H Ebinuma, K Atsukawa, T Masuda, Y Inagaki, K Tsuchimoto, T Morizane, H Ishii – 1 June 1996 – A gene encoding the variable regions of the heavy and light chains of a mouse monoclonal antibody designated H2, which specifically reacts with human liver cells, was cloned into a phagemid vector. The clone of the variable region was designed to be expressed as a separate protein, the structure of which is the same as that of the mouse antibody.

M Borgs, M Bollen, S Keppens, S H Yap, W Stalmans, F Vanstapel – 1 June 1996 – We perfused livers from fed rats with a balanced salt solution containing 1 mmol/L glucose. Under these conditions a low steady rate of glycogenolysis was observed (approximately 1.7 μmol glucose equivalents/g/min; 20% of the maximal glycogenolytic activity). Nitric oxide (NO) transiently stimulated hepatic glucose production. A maximal response (on average doubling basal glucose output) was observed with 34 μmol/L NO. The same concentration of nitrite (NO2‐) was ineffective.

E Tanaka, K Kiyosawa, A Matsumoto, T Kashiwakuma, A Hasegawa, H Mori, O Yanagihara, Y Ohta – 1 June 1996 – The quantitation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) viremia can be helpful in the diagnosis, therapy, and monitoring of patients with chronic hepatitis C. A sensitive and quantitative fluorescence enzyme immunoassay (FEIA) has recently been developed for assaying HCV core protein in serum.

H W Horowitz, B Dworkin, G Forseter, R B Nadelman, C Connolly, B B Luciano, J Nowakowski, T A O'Brien, M Calmann, G P Wormser – 1 June 1996 – To evaluate the frequency, pattern, and severity of liver function test abnormalities in patients with Lyme disease associated with erythema migrans (EM), 115 individuals with no other identifiable cause for liver function test abnormalities who presented with EM between July 1990 and September 1993 were prospectively evaluated.

S K Acharya, S Dasarathy, T L Kumer, S Sushma, K S Prasanna, A Tandon, V Sreenivas, S Nijhawan, S K Panda, S K Nanda, M Irshad, Y K Joshi, S Duttagupta, R K Tandon, B N Tandon – 1 June 1996 – The profiles of patients with fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) from developing countries have not been reported earlier. The current study was conducted prospectively, at a single tertiary care center in India, to document the demographic and clinical characteristics, natural course, and causative profile of patients with FHF as well as to define simple prognostic markers in these patients.