Andres T. Blei, Sigurdur Olafsson, Guy Therrien, Roger F. Butterworth – 1 June 1994 – Brain edema, leading to intracranial hypertension and brain herniation, is a major cause of death in fulminant liver failure. Astrocyte swelling is a prominent neuropathological feature in experimental fulminant liver failure. It has been postulated that the osmotic effects of glutamine, generated in astrocytes from ammonia and glutamate in a reaction catalyzed by glutamine synthetase, could mediate brain swelling.

1 June 1994

Gary L. Davis, Johnson Y.‐N. Lau, Mickie S. Urdea, Paul D. Neuwald, Judith C. Wilber, Karen Lindsay, Robert P. Perrillo, Janice Albrecht – 1 June 1994 – To determine the optimal conditions for preparation of serum specimens for quantitative hepatitis C virus RNA determination, patient samples were processed such that differences in time from clot formation to centrifugation, centrifugation to separation of serum and collection of serum until freezing could be independently assessed. The effects of multiple cycles of freezing and thawing were also determined.

1 June 1994

Raymond S. Koff – 1 June 1994

Haruhiko Kobashi, Kazuhide Yamamoto, Toshifumi Yoshioka, Minoru Tomita, Takao Tsuji – 1 June 1994 – Neonatally thymectomized mice are unique in that they are prone to organ‐specific autoimmune diseases. We investigated whether autoimmune cholangitis could be induced in these mice when they were immunized with biliary antigens. Neonatally thymectomized A/J mice were immunized with porcine intrahepatic bile duct epithelial cells (group 1), porcine gallbladder epithelial cells (group 2), porcine splenocytes (group 3) or Freund's adjuvant (group 4).

Mark J. Czaja, Jun Xu, Yue Ju, Elaine Alt, Phyllis Schmiedeberg – 1 May 1994 – Endogenous lipopolysaccharide has been implicated as a cofactor in the hepatocellular injury and death resulting from toxic liver injury. To prevent this lipopolysaccharide‐induced injury and to further understand the mechanism of this effect, an anti‐lipopolysaccharide antibody was administered to rats in which toxic hepatocellular injury was induced. Rats were given the hepatotoxin galactosamine together with an isotypic control antibody B55 or the anti‐lipopolysaccharide antibody E5.

Stephan Krähenbühl, Christine Talos, Jürg Reichen – 1 May 1994 – Hepatic metabolism of fatty acids is impaired in experimental animals with long‐term bile duct ligation. To characterize the underlying defects, fatty acid metabolism was investigated in isolated hepatocytes and isolated liver mitochondria from rats subjected to long‐term bile duct ligation or sham surgery. After starvation for 24 hr, the plasma β‐hydroxy‐butyrate concentration was decreased in rats with bile duct ligation as compared with control rats.

Ramon Gomis, Josefa Fernández‐Alvarez, Pilar Pizcueta, Mercedes Fernández, Roser Casamitjana, Jaume Bosch, Joan Rodés – 1 May 1994 – Increased circulating insulin and glucagon levels are a common observation in patients with cirrhosis, as well as in portal hypertensive models. Hyperinsulinemia and hyperglucagonemia may be caused either by increased beta‐ and alpha‐cell secretion or by defective hepatic clearance of these hormones.

Hari S. Conjeevaram, Alexander Nagle, Andrew Katz, Kristine Kaminsky‐Russ, Arthur J. McCullough, Kevin D. Mullen – 1 May 1994 – The portacaval shunt rat is often used as a model of human portal‐systemic encephalopathy, but its relevance to human portal‐systemic encephalopathy remains uncertain. Specifically, it has not been demonstrated that the behavioral changes seen in this model respond to measures known to improve portal‐systemic encephalopathy in human subjects.