Koshi Matsumoto, Hiroaki Fujii, George Michalopoulos, John J. Fung, Anthony J. Demetris – 1 August 1994 – Recombinant growth factors and proinflammatory cytokines were added to primary cultures of human intrahepatic biliary duct epithelia to test for their ability to stimulate DNA synthesis and elicit cytokine production. Interleukin‐6 and hepatocyte and epidermal growth factors were found to increase the DNA labeling index of biliary duct epithelium from fourfold to sixfold 24 hr after their addition to primary biliary duct epithelium cultures maintained in serum‐free medium.

Arrigo Arrigoni, Tiziana Gindro, Giuseppe Aimo, Nazario Cappello, Andrea Meloni, Paolo Benedetti, Gian Paolo Molino, Giorgio Verme, Mario Rizzetto – 1 August 1994 – The aim of this study was to assess the value of the monoethylglicinexylidide assay, a dynamic liver function test based on the determination of the serum concentration of lidocaine major metabolite, as a predictor of survival in cirrhosis.

Gerd‐Achim Kullak‐Ublick, Bruno Hagenbuch, Bruno Stieger, Allan W. Wolkoff, Peter J. Meier – 1 August 1994 – To characterize the transport functions of a recently cloned basolateral organic anion transporting polypeptide of rat hepatocytes we performed further kinetic transport and substrate cis‐inhibition studies in organic anion‐transporting polypeptide—cRNA injected Xenopus laevis oocytes.

David E. Johnston, Rahul Jasuja – 1 August 1994 – We had found several methods of hepatocyte isolation to be inadequate for removing Kupffer and endo thelial cells and so developed a method of selectively killing these nonparenchymal cells in hepatocyte cultures using the known selective uptake and toxicity of the protein synthesis inhibitor ricin and its A chain by nonparenchymal cells. Kupffer cells were quantitated with the Ku‐1 monoclonal antibody.

Markus Lindauer, Konstantin Beier, Alfred Völkl, H. Dariush Fahimi – 1 August 1994 – The hepatic zonation of peroxisomes and four of their matrical enzyme proteins (catalase, acyl coenzyme A oxidase, multifunctional protein, thiolase) has been investigated in normal male rats and after treatment with three divergent hypolipidemic drugs by means of automatic image analysis and quantitative immunoelectron microscopy. The induction of peroxisomal enzymes was confirmed by Western blotting and enzyme activity determinations in liver homogenates and in highly purified peroxisome fractions.

Reynaldo Gacad, Kristine Kaminsky‐Russ, Kevin D. Mullen, Peter Widler, Hans U. Fisch, Arthur Zimmermann, Thomas E. Schläepfer, Jürg Reichen, Peter‐Schoch – 1 August 1994

Tomasz I. Michalak, Bo Lin – 1 August 1994 – Hepadnaviral antigens exposed on hepatocytes serve as targets and as possible modulators of immunopathogenic reactions causing liver damage. To identify molecular species of viral proteins at the liver cell surface and the relationship between their expression and the persistence and severity of virus‐induced liver injury, we examined woodchuck hepatitis virus core and envelope polypeptides in host hepatocyte plasma membranes from acute and chronic hepatitis.

Masahiro Uehara, Noriyuki Sato – 1 August 1994 – To evaluate whether neutrophil bactericidal function, the ability to produce oxygen‐derived free radicals, is altered in patients with chronic liver disease, we measured chemiluminescence amplified by a luciferin analog (Cypridina luciferin analog‐dependent chemiluminescence) and luminol (luminol‐dependent chemiluminescence) in response to N‐formyl‐Met‐Lue‐Phe by neutrophils from patients with chronic liver diseases due to C and/or B type hepatitis: chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Yilmaz Cakaloglu, J. Michael Tredger, John Devlin, Roger Williams – 1 August 1994 – We have investigated the importance of cytochrome P‐450IIIA enzyme activity in influencing dosage of the immunosuppressive drugs FK 506 and cyclosporine after liver transplantation. Cytochrome P‐450IIIA enzyme activity in vivo was measured 1 yr postoperatively in 37 stable orthotopic liver graft recipients (21 receiving FK 506 and 16 given cyclosporine) by the erythromycin breath test and the production of monoethylglycinexylidide from lignocaine.

Michéle Chevallier, Sylviane Guerret, Philippe Chossegros, Françoise Gerard, Jean‐Alexis Grimaud – 1 August 1994 – The evaluation of hepatic fibrosis on histological sections is of great interest for the staging and follow‐up of chronic liver disease. Because no reliable scoring system is yet available, we have designed a semiquantitative scoring system in which the four main sites of fibrotic deposit — centrilobular vein, portal tract and perisinusoidal space, together with width and number of septa when present — are analyzed.