Winita Hardikar, Frederick J. Suchy – 1 November 1993 – Transport systems involved in uptake and biliary secretion of bile salts have been extensively studied in rat liver; however, little is known about these systems in the human liver. In this study, we investigated taurocholate (TC) transport in canalicular and basolateral plasma membrane vesicles isolated from 15 human livers (donor age 6–64 yr). ATP stimulated the uptake of TC into both canalicular and basolateral human liver plasma membrane vesicles (cLPM and bILPM, respectively).

1 November 1993

Joshua Schafer, Mark S. D'Almeida, Harvey Weisman, W. Wayne Lautt – 1 October 1993 – Hepatic capacitance responses were compared in sham‐operated and 14‐day bile duct–ligated cats under pentobarbital anesthesia. Both groups were subjected to splenectomy and had the anterior hepatic nerve plexus sectioned to allow stimulation; the posterior plexus was intact. Blood volume compensation for hemorrhage was reduced in the bile duct ligation group compared with the control group: The liver compensated for 20.1% and 10.6% of blood loss, respectively.

Masaharu Sakamoto, Takato Ueno, Motoaki Kin, Hiromasa Ohira, Takuji Torimura, Sadataka Inuzuka, Michio Sata, Kyuichi Tanikawa – 1 October 1993 – The contractile response of cultured Ito cells to endothelin‐1 and substance P was examined. Ito cells were obtained from rat liver by perfusion with collagenase, followed by separation through centrifugal elutriation, and were cultured for 24 hr. The area of the Ito cells was measured after treatment with endothelin‐1 or substance P at various concentrations in the culture medium.

Kazunori Fukuda, Masamichi Kojiro, Jen‐Fu Chiu – 1 October 1993 – We report here that transforming growth factor‐β1 induces cell death in the Morris hepatoma cell line McA‐RH7777. We assessed the type of cell death induced by transforming growth factor‐β1 in this hepatoma cell line on the basis of morphological and biochemical characteristics. Dying cells, which detached from the cell monolayer, showed morphological characteristics of apoptosis (programmed cell death) such as chromatin condensation, nuclear disintegration and cellular fragmentation into clusters of eosinophilic globules.

P. J. Johnson, Ian G. McFarlane, Convenors, On Behalf of the Panel – 1 October 1993

Ian R. Mackay – 1 October 1993

Frank L. Iber – 1 October 1993

Andrew Mason, Mark Wick, Heather White, Robert Perrillo – 1 October 1993 – Hepatitis B virus–specific nucleic acid sequences and proteins have been detected in extrahepatic tissues of acutely and chronically infected patients. However, apart from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and bone marrow cells, little is known about the specific cell types that permit viral replication. In this study, we assessed the extrahepatic tissues of four patients who died with chronic hepatitis B virus infection and two uninfected controls by means of in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical study.

Gregor Zöhrens, Thomas Armbrust, Ursula Pirzer, Karl‐Hermann Meyer zum Büschenfelde, Giuliano Ramadori – 1 October 1993 – To study the influence of chronic hepatitis on intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 serum concentration, we measured intercellular adhesion molecular‐1 in the serum of 84 patients with chronic liver disease (17 chronic persistent hepatitis, 42 chronic active hepatitis and 25 active cirrhosis) caused by hepatitis B virus (n = 46), hepatitis C virus (n = 10) and autoimmunity (n = 28).