1 August 1991

William F. Carman, Elizabeth A. Fagan, Stephanos Hadziyannis, Peter Karayianni, Nicolaos C. Tassopoulos, Roger Williams, Howard C. Thomas – 1 August 1991 – A variant of hepatitis B virus has been described recently in HBsAg+ Mediterranean patients who lack HBeAg and who have an unusual and severe form of chronic hepatitis. This variant is unable to produce HBeAg because of the presence of a novel translational stop codon at the end of the precore region of the genome.

Frank Autschbach, Stefan C. Meuer, Ulrich Moebius, Michael Manns, Georg Hess, Karl‐Hermann Meyer Zum Büschenfelde, Wolfgang Thoenes, Hans‐Peter Dienes – 1 August 1991 – T lymphocyte—mediated cytolytic immune reactions are considered a major cause of hepatocyte injury in chronic viral and autoimmune hepatitis.

Richard Eastell, E. Rolland Dickson, Stephen F. Hodgson, Russell H. Wiesner, Michael K. Porayko, Heinz W. Wahner, Sandra L. Cedel, B. Lawrence Riggs, Ruud A. F. Krom – 1 August 1991 – Atraumatic fractures caused by osteoporosis may be a serious complication of primary biliary cirrhosis. Mean (± S.D.) bone mineral density in the lumbar spine in 210 ambulatory women with primary biliary cirrhosis was 1.02 ± 0.19 gm/cm2, 7% lower than that in 139 age‐matched normal women (after adjustment for age and body weight) (p < 0.001).

Axel Holstege, Heide‐Maria Gengenbacher, Linda Jehle, Johannes Hoppmann – 1 August 1991 – In mammalian cells, nucleoside transport usually is mediated by facilitated diffusion. In addition, a Na+‐dependent, concentrative nucleoside transport system has been detected in several tissues but not the liver.

Kenneth S. Lown, Paul B. Watkins – 1 August 1991 – In previous papers we demonstrated that cyclosporin A (CsA) was specifically oxidized in rabbit and human liver by cytochrome P‐450IIIA. We therefore anticipated that any drug that is an inducer or an inhibitor of this cytochrome should lead to interaction with CsA when given in association with it.

Raymond S. Koff – 1 August 1991

Hajime Takikawa, Naoyo Sano, Tohru Narita, Yoshinobu Uchida, Masami Yamanaka, Tohru Horie, Takashi Mikami, Osamu Tagaya – 1 August 1991 – The hepatic transport of bile acid conjugates was studied in the Eisai hyperbilirubinuria rat, a Sprague‐Dawley mutant rat with conjugated hyperbilirubinemia. Serum bile acid levels were increased, bile acid‐independent bile flow was decreased and biliary glutathione concentrations were markedly decreased in the Eisai hyperbilirubinuria rat.

Itsuro Ogata, Satoshi Mochida, Tomoaki Tomiya, Kenji Fujiwara – 1 August 1991 – Hepatocyte contribution to hepatic collagen production in vivo was estimated in rats, based on the fact that ornithine is used for protein synthesis in the liver as arginine after conversion by way of the urea cycle only by hepatocytes. From rats given a mixture of [14C] ornithine and [3H]arginine, hepatic collagen and serum albumin were obtained. The hepatocyte contribution was calculated from the 14C and 3H in arginine purified from collagen and albumin by high performance liquid chromatography.

Mark P. Callery, Martin J. Mangino, M. Wayne Flye – 1 August 1991 – Prostaglandin‐E2 increases in liver tissue after partial hepatectomy and stimulates DNA synthesis in primary cultures of hepatocytes. This study evaluated the capacity of Kupffer cells isolated at various intervals after partial hepatectomy to produce prostaglandin E2 in response to bacterial endotoxin. This stimulator of Kupffer cells is a normal endogenous component of portal venous blood.