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.

John E. Coe, Kamal G. Ishak, Mary Jane Ross – 1 April 1990 – Liver tumors were found in most Armenian hamsters (Cricetulus migratorius) injected with on 15‐mg pellet of diethylstilbestrol. The tumors were detectable as early as 1.5 mo after diethylstilbestrol administration and were usually present as multiple nodules that progressively increased in size. Histologically, the multicentric neoplasms were all hepatocellular carcinomas of varied degrees of differentiation and frequently (42.8%) contained Mallory bodies; preneoplastic lesions were not observed.

Richard H. Moseley – 1 April 1990 – The relationships between extracellular pH (pHo), intracellular pH (pHi), and loss of cell viability were evaluated in cultured rat hepatocytes after ATP depletion by metabolic inhibition with KCN and iodoacetate (chemical hypoxia). pHi was measured in single cells by ratio imaging of 2′, 7′ ‐biscarboxy‐ethyl‐5, 6‐carboxyfluorescein (BCECF) fluorescence using multiparameter digitized video microscopy. During chemical hypoxia at pHo of 7.4, pHi decreased from 7.36 to 6.33 within 10 min. pHi remained at 6.1–6.5 for 30–40 min. (plateau phase).

Eric Fort, Denis Sautereau, Christine Silvain, Pierre Ingrand, Bernard Pillegand, Michel Beauchant – 1 April 1990 – A randomized trial was undertaken to determine the efficacy of nitroglycerin in addition to terlipressin infusion to improve the control of acute variceal hemorrhage compared with balloon tamponade. Fortyseven bleeding episodes in 34 cirrhotic patients were included, with terlipressin plus sublingual nitroglycerin in 23 episodes (group I) and balloon tamponade in 24 episodes (group II).

Gary C. Kanel, William Cassidy, Louis Shuster, Telfer B. Reynolds – 1 April 1990 – Although investigative research of animal models in cocaine metabolism and associated liver cell injury has been fairly extensive during the past 10 yr, little evidence of hepatotoxicity has been documented in man. We report a case of fulminant hepatic failure and acute rhabdomyolysis resulting from cocaine use.