David E. J. Jones, Oliver F. W. James, Margaret F. Bassendine – 1 May 1995 – Background/Aims: A double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) was conducted in 180 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) to define the efficacy and safety of UDCA. Efficacy was assessed by time to treatment failure defined as death; liver transplantation; histological progression; development of varices, ascites, or encephalopathy; doubling of total serum bilirubin levels; progression of fatigue or pruritus; drug toxicity; or voluntary withdrawal.

C. A. Wilco Snel, K. Sandy Pang, Gerard J. MulderD – 1 May 1995 – The relation between the rate of glutathione (GSH) conjugation and hepatic GSH content was studied in the rat in vivo and the in situ single‐pass‐perfused rat liver preparation with bromosulfophthalein (BSP) as the model substrate. The biliary excretion of the BSP‐GSH conjugate and the hepatic GSH content were monitored simultaneously during intravenous infusions with BSP in the rat in vivo, and during liver perfusions with BSP‐containing perfusion medium.

María José Gómez‐Lechón, José Castelli, Isabel Guillén, Enrique o'Connor, Toshikazu Nakamura, Ricardo Fabra, Ramón Trullenque – 1 May 1995 – The effect of recombinant human hepatocyte growth factor (h‐rHGF), a potent mitogen for hepatocytes, was investigated in primary cultures of human hepatocytes. Here, we describe a series of experiments to investigate the kinetics of its mitogenic action, as well as its metabolic effects on cultured human hepatocytes.

Yury Persidsky, Anne‐Marie Steffan, Jean‐Louis Gendrault, Bruno Hurtrel, Stefan Berger, Cathy Royer, Hans‐Jochen Stutte, Elizabeth Muchmore, Anne‐Marie Aubertin, André Kirn – 1 May 1995 – The pathogenesis of liver injury, which remains unclear in the course of human immunodeficiency virus infection, can be investigated in simian immunodeficiency virus—infected macaques, which develop an immunodeficiency disease resembling human acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Domenico Alvaro, Antonio Benedetti, Alessandro Gigliozzi, Adriano Bini, Paola Della Guardia, Tiziana la Rosa, Anne Marie Jezequel, Livio Capocaccia – 1 April 1995 – We investigated whether bile salts (BS) with different hydrophobic‐hydrophilic properties interact with ethanol on bile secretion, enzyme (aspartate transaminase [AST], lactate dehydrogenase [LDH]) release in the perfusate, liver ultrastructure, and vesicular exocytosis in the isolated perfused rat liver.

Pierre Moffatt, Gabriel L. Plaa, Francine Denizeau – 1 April 1995 – Metallothionein (MT) is a small cysteine‐rich protein thought to be mainly involved in metal regulation and detoxification. The implication of MT in cell growth and differentiation has also been suggested. This latter hypothesis was further investigated in adult rat hepatocytes induced to proliferate by epidermal growth factor (EGF). Exposure of hepatocytes to EGF resulted in significant increases (≈twofold) in MT protein and MT‐1 messenger RNA (mRNA) levels, which were maximal after 48 hours.

Martin Hertl, P. Robert C. Harvey, Paul E. Swanson, Delin D. West, Todd K. Howard, Surendra Shenoy, Steven M. Strasberg – 1 April 1995 – Preservation injury to bile ducts is a serious problem in liver transplantation, especially when preservation exceeds 12 hours. The authors hypothesized that the injury was caused by contact of bile ducts with bile salts during cold preservation and might be preventable by infusion of more hydrophilic bile salts.

Toshirou Nishida, Mingxin Che, Zenaida Gatmaitan, Irwin M. Arias – 1 April 1995 – The adenosine triphosphate (ATP)‐dependent transport system is a major determinant of canalicular bile acid secretion. The system transports bile acids and neither organic cations nor non—bile acid organic anions, such as glucuronides or glutathione adducts. To define the structural specificity of the ATP‐dependent system, the authors examined the ability of various bile acids to inhibit ATP‐dependent taurocholate transport by rat liver canalicular membrane vesicles.

Dagny Ståhlberg, Eva Reihnér, Mats Rudling, Lars Berglund, Kurt Einarsson, Bo Angelin – 1 April 1995 – Bezafibrate is a hypolipidemic fibric acid derivative known to induce cholesterol supersaturation of bile. To characterize its effects on hepatic cholesterol metabolism, 31 normolipidemic, normal‐weight patients with gallstones undergoing cholecystectomy were studied. Eleven patients (5 men) were randomized to treatment with bezafibrate, 200 mg three times daily for 4 weeks before operation; the remaining 20 patients (5 men) served as nontreatment controls.

Koichi Tsuneyama, Judy van de Water, Patrick S. C. Leung, Sanghoon Cha, Yasuni Nakanuma, Marshall Kaplan, Ronald de Lellis, Ross Coppel, Aftab Ansari, M. Eric Gershwin – 1 April 1995 – Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic autoimmune liver disease characterized histologically by non‐suppurative destructive cholangitis. Sera from patients with PBC react with a series of intramitochondrial enzymes with the immunodominant response directed against the E2 component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC‐E2).