H Kitade, K Sakitani, K Inoue, Y Masu, N Kawada, Y Hiramatsu, Y Kamiyama, T Okumura, S Ito – 1 April 1996 – To investigate whether a single inflammatory cytokine could stimulate nitric oxide formation in the absence of other cytokines or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), NO was measured by the redox chemiluminescence method in primary cultured rat hepatocytes and in rat Kupffer cells.

J M Llovet, R Bartoli, R Planas, B Vinado, J Perez, E Cabre, J Arnal, I Ojanguren, V Ausina, M A Gassull – 1 April 1996 – Bacterial translocation (BT) can be involved in the pathogenesis of severe infections due to bacteria of enteric origin that complicates bleeding cirrhotic patients.

N Ito, S Kawata, S Tamura, S Kiso, H Tsushima, Y Maeda, E Yamasaki, T Igura, Y Matsuzawa – 1 April 1996 – We investigated short‐term alterations in plasma interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) levels induced by interferon alfa (IFN‐α) injection in 18 patients with chronic hepatitis C. A single intramuscular injection of human recombinant IFN‐α 2a (6 million units [MU]) significantly increased the plasma IL‐6 level 6 hours after the injection (P < .05). On the other hand, the IFN‐α injection did not affect the plasma TNF‐α and IL‐lβ levels.

S E Dunn, C S Hughes, G A LeBlanc, J M Cullen – 1 April 1996 – The leading cause of human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) is hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Woodchucks infected with a closely related hepadnavirus, woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV), serve as a model for HBV because woodchucks chronically infected with WHV also develop hepatocellular carcinomas. Increased expression of p‐glycoprotein (pgp) in human HCCs is a common obstacle in successful cancer chemotherapy. Pgps are encoded by a family of multidrug‐resistance (MDR) genes.

C Dehmlow, J Erhard, H de Groot – 1 April 1996 – The flavonoid silibinin, the main compound extracted from the milk thistle Silybum marianum, displays hepatoprotective properties in acute and chronic liver injury. To further elucidate the mechanisms by which it acts, we studied the effects of silibinin on different functions of isolated rat Kupffer cells, namely the formation of superoxide anion radical (0), nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐ α), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and leukotriene B4 (LTB4).

X Xiol, J M Castellví, J Guardiola, E Sesé, J Castellote, A Perelló, X Cervantes, M J Iborra – 1 April 1996 – Spontaneous bacterial empyema (SBEM) is an infection of a preexisting hydrothorax in cirrhotic patients and has seldom been reported. To determine its incidence and primary characteristics, all cirrhotic patients with pleural effusion underwent thoracentesis at our hospital either on admission or when an infection was suspected.

D Liao, I Porsch‐Hallstrom, J A Gustafsson, A Blanck – 1 April 1996 – The effects of gonadal hormones on several parameters associated with sex‐differentiated promotion in the resistant hepatocyte (RH) model were studied. Male and female rats were initiated with diethylnitrosamine and promoted with 2‐acetylaminofluorene (2‐AAF) and partial hepatectomy [correction of hepatecomy] (PH). Before promotion, some female rats were ovariectomized, with or without receiving subcutaneous testosterone implants. Rats were killed either at the time of cessation of 2‐AAF treatment or 2 weeks later.

E Bhunchet, Y Eishi, K Wake – 1 April 1996 – To investigate whether hepatic fibrosis induced by porcine serum in rats is caused by an immune reaction to porcine serum, rats that were immunologically tolerant exclusively to porcine serum were subjected to the repeated injection of porcine serum over a long period. This porcine serum‐tolerant group consisted of 15 Wistar rats that had been injected intraperitoneally with porcine serum twice a week from the first postnatal day for 18 weeks.

Y Gong, L Cui, G Y Minuk – 1 April 1996 – The gene responsible for transcribing glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is commonly used as a reporter gene to estimate the amount of RNA present in Northern analyses. However, recent data suggest that GAPDH gene expression may vary with the extent of cell proliferation and differentiation. 28S‐ribosomal RNA (28S‐rRNA) has also been employed to normalize Northern blots prepared with total RNA.

M Kobayashi, E Tanaka, T Sodeyama, A Urushihara, A Matsumoto, K Kiyosawa – 1 April 1996 – This study was conducted to clarify if the long‐term histological outcome among patients with chronic hepatitis C differs according to whether they are infected with genotype 1 or 2 hepatitis C virus (HCV). We examined 140 patients with chronic hepatitis C. The HCV genotype was determined by the enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on genotypes 1 and 2 specific recombinant proteins; genotype 1 was found in 100 patients (96 were 1b and 4 were indeterminate) and genotype 2 in 36.