Prenatal diagnosis of bilirubin‐UDP‐glucuronosyltransferase deficiency in rats by genomic DNA analysis

Tian‐Jun Huang, Jayanta Roy Chowdhury, Pulak Lahiri, Purna C. Yerneni, Vasudeva R. Bommineni, Irwin M. Arias, Namita Roy Chowdhury – 1 September 1992 – Hepatic bilirubin excretion requires UDP‐glucuronosyltransferase–mediated glucuronidation. Patients with type I Crigler‐Najjar syndrome and mutant rats (Gunn strain) inherit deficiency of UDP‐glucuronyltransferase activity toward bilirubin as an autosomal recessive trait and, as a result, exhibit marked nonhemolytic unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia throughout postnatal life.

Hemodynamics during liver transplantation: The interactions between cardiac output and portal venous and hepatic arterial flows

J. Michael Henderson, G. Thomas Gilmore, Gregory J. Mackay, John R. Galloway, Thomas F. Dodson, Michael H. Kutner – 1 September 1992 – Liver blood flow and systemic hemodynamics were measured intraoperatively in 34 patients after liver transplantation. Ultrasound transit‐time flow probes measured hepatic arterial and portal venous flow over 10 to 75 min 1 to 3 hr after reperfusion. Cardiac output was measured by thermodilution. Mean cardiac output was 9.5 ± 2.8 L/min; the mean total liver blood flow of 2,091 ± 932 ml/min was 23% ± 11% of cardiac output.

A pilot study of ribavirin therapy for chronic hepatitis C

Adrian M. di Bisceglie, Michiko Shindo, Tse‐Ling Fong, Michael W. Fried, Mark G. Swain, Nora V. Bergasa, Constantine A. Axiotis, Jeanne G. Waggoner, Yoon Park, Jay H. Hoofnagle – 1 September 1992 – Interferon‐α therapy is of proven efficacy in chronic hepatitis C, but it is not universally effective and may be associated with intolerable side effects. Ribavirin is a nucleoside analog with a broad spectrum of antiviral action. We conducted an uncontrolled pilot study of ribavirin therapy in 13 patients with chronic hepatitis C.

In situ hybridization studies in hepatitis A infection

G. Michael Taylor, Robert D. Goldin, Peter Karayiannis, Howard C. Thomas – 1 September 1992 – An in situ hybridization method using radiolabeled oligonucleotide probes was developed to study primary sites of hepatitis A virus replication in an experimental animal model of infection. Hepatitis A genomic sequences were demonstrated in hepatocytes of four marmosets with acute hepatitis A by use of antisense probes. In two of these animals, staining was also found when a sense probe was used, which is consistent with active replication in the hepatocytes.

Inhibition of rat hepatic lipocyte activation in culture by interferon‐γ

Don C. Rockey, Jacquelyn J. Maher, William R. Jarnagin, Giulio Gabbiani, Scott L. Friedman – 1 September 1992 – Hepatic lipocytes (perisinusoidal, Ito cells) are the primary matrix‐producing cells in liver fibrosis. During liver injury they undergo activation, a process characterized by cell proliferation and increased fibrogenesis. We and others have established a culture model in which in vivo features of lipocyte activation can be mimicked by cells grown on plastic.

Ursodeoxycholic acid for treatment of primary sclerosing cholangitis: A placebo‐controlled trial

Ulrich Beuers, Ulrich Spengler, Wolfgang Kruis, ülker Aydemir, Baldur Wiebecke, Walter Heldwein, Marlene Weinzierl, Gerd R. Pape, Tilman Sauerbruch, Gustav Paumgartner – 1 September 1992 – The efficacy and safety of ursodeoxycholic acid for the treatment of primary sclerosing cholangitis were evaluated in a prospective, randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial. Fourteen patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis documented by cholestatic serum enzyme pattern, liver histological appearance and endoscopic retrograde cholangiography were included in the trial.

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