Chaitanya R. Divgi, Alfred M. Cohen – 1 May 1990 – We have established a large library of monoclonal antibodies against a human hepatoma cell line called FOCUS. One such monoclonal antibody (SF‐25) detects a 125‐kilodalton cell surface antigen found on FOCUS cells. As both the liver and the colon are of endodermal origin, we examined the possibility of expression in colon adenocarcinomas. This antigen was found in all 23 colon adenocarcinoma tissues surgically obtained but was absent in the adjacent normal mucosal counterpart as determined by a direct radioimmunohistologic technique.

Veerapol Kukongviriyapan, Neill H. Stacey – 1 May 1990 – Isolated rat hepatocytes have been advocated as a model to study aspects of mechanism of chemicalinduced interference with biliary excretory function. Some technical problems do exist in studying efflux, such as the reuptake of the previously excreted substrate. Another concern is the loss of liver‐specific functions in hepatocytes with continuing time in culture. It is important to address such technical aspects and to determine whether the process of efflux is compromised in primary cultures of hepatocytes.

Christopher C. Baker – 1 May 1990 – To further define the computed tomographic (CT) criteria on which to guide the nonsurgical treatment of adult patients with blunt hepatic injury, the authors retrospectively reviewed abdominal CT scans obtained before surgery during a 35‐month period. Blunt hepatic injury was diagnosed in 187 patients, and review revealed 37 patients in whom the liver was the site of sole or principal intraabdominal injury detected with the help of CT before surgery.

1 May 1990

Henry N. Claman – 1 May 1990 – We quantitated numbers of mast cells in the sclerotic skin noted on the dorsa of the hands of 10 patients with porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT), and compared them with those of diffuse scleroderma and healthy controls. Mast cell counts in scleroderma and healthy controls. Mast cell counts in sclerodermoid skin of PCT patients were significantly greater than those in involved skin of 9 patients with diffuse scleroderma in its late stage and also greater than those in normal skin of 8 controls.

Antonello Pietrangelo, Emilio Rocchi, Luisa Schiaffonati, Ezio Ventura, Gaetano Cairo – 1 May 1990 – To clarify the pathogenesis of hepatic iron toxicity, we investigated the effect of chronic dietary iron overload on the expression of several genes in rat liver. After 10 wk of iron treatment, when only minor histological features of liver damage were appreciable, the level of pro‐α2(I)‐collagen mRNA was already higher than in control liver and increased further at 30 wk of treatment.

Georg Wensing, Ramzi Sabra, Robert A. Branch – 1 May 1990 – Although sodium retention is a common coplication in advanced liver disease, the relationship between liver and kidney function in cirrhosis has not been well established. The objective of this study was to investigate this relationship in an experimental model of cirrhosis induced in phenobarbital‐treated rats by weekly intragatric adminstration of carbon terachloride. Liver function, measured by the aminopyrine breath test, and urinary sodium excretion on a constant salt diet, were measured weekly.

Riccardo Utili, Marie F. Tripodi, Luigi E. Adinolfi, Giovanni B. Gaeta, Charles O. Abernathy, Hyman J. Zimmerman – 1 May 1990 – This study was designed to test the hypothesis that increasing the infusion rate of bile salts could overcome drug‐induced cholestasis. Cholestasis was induced by administration of 17.5 μmol/L estradiol‐17β‐D‐glucuronide during the infusion of taurocholate, tauroursodeoxycholate or dehydrocholate at 20 nmol/min/gm liver. After 30 min, a bolus of 10 μmol of the bile salts was added to the perfusate, and the infusion rate of each bile salt was increased.

Marios Z. Panos, Kevin Moore, Panayiotis Vlavianos, John B. Chambers, John V. Anderson, Alexander E. S. Gimson, Jeremy D. H. Slater, Lesley H. Rees, David Westaby, Roger Williams – 1 April 1990 – Hemodynamic changes induced by a single, total paracentesis were evaluated in 21 patients with tense ascites from whom 4 to 16 L of ascites were drained over 2 to 8 hr with no serious complications.

Paloma Maganto, Peter G. Traber, Christopher Rusnell, William O. Dobbins Iii, David Keren, Jorge J. Gumucio – 1 April 1990 – Hepatocytes isolated from livers of Fischer 344 rats and transplanted into the spleens of rats from the same strain survived for at least 15 mo in the absence of immunosuppressive drugs. Hepatocytes attached themselves only in the red pulp of the spleen, most commonly in clumps without a discernible structure.