Ranjit Banerjee, Saul Karpen, Miriam Siekevitz, Gabriella Lengyel, Joachim Bauer, George Acs – 1 December 1989 – Tumor necrosis factor‐α is an inducer of acute‐phase protein synthesis in liver cells. The mechanism by which tumor necrosis factor‐α alters gene expression in these cells is largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that tumor necrosis factor‐α stimulates human immunodeficiency virus‐1 long terminal repeat‐promoted gene expression in the human hepatoblastoma HepG2 cell line and increased binding of trans‐activating factors to kappa B (kB) DNA sequences.

Neil A. Kurtzman – 1 November 1989

Samuel W. French, H. Tsukamoto, Esteban Mezey – 1 November 1989

Denis J. Morgan, Richard A. Smallwood – 1 November 1989 – Blood clearance of antipyrine, indocyanine green, and galactose were measured to evaluate the alterations of effective hepatic blood flow and hepatic intrinsic clearances in chronic liver diseases. Galactose blood clearance, which may be taken as effective hepatic blood flow, decreased by approximately 30% in patients with cirrhosis (12.49 ± 0.76 ml/min/kg; mean ± SE; n = 17) compared with normal subjects (18.17 ± 1.03 ml/min/kg; n = 5).

Jean C. Emond, Peter F. Whitington, J. Richard Thistlethwaite, Estella M. Alonso, Christoph E. Broelsch – 1 November 1989 – Reducing the size of a liver for use in a recipient smaller than the donor is one way to reduce mortality before orthotopic liver transplantation in children because of the scarcity of pediatric organ donors. In this report, we review the results of this approach over the past 2 years, during which we have used reduced‐size orthotopic liver transplantation routinely in small children.

Fang Xian‐Jun, Armand Keating, Jean de Villiers, Morris Sherman – 1 November 1989 – In preparation for studies using gene transfer, we have identified transcriptional control elements which are active in primary rat hepatocytes. We used plasmids which were constructed so that the promoter or enhancer of interest initiated transcription of the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene.

Nina R. Dhurandhar – 1 November 1989

Alexander L. Gerbes – 1 November 1989 – The effects of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) on splanchnic hemodynamics and renal function in portal hypertensive models are described incompletely. Furthermore, ANF‐induced vasodilatation and hypotension may limit the assessment of its own renal physiological effects. We infused ANF (human ANF 102‐126) to anesthetized portal vein‐ligated rats, a model with prehepatic portal hypertension. Arterial pressure was reduced by 17%, but portal pressure was unaffected.

Tateo Kawase, Shinzo Kato, Charles S. Lieber – 1 November 1989 – The effects of chronic ethanol feeding on hepatic lipid peroxidation, ascorbic acid, glutathione and vitamin E levels were investigated in rats fed low or adequate amounts of dietary vitamin E. Hepatic lipid peroxidation was significantly increased after chronic ethanol feeding in rats receiving a low‐vitamin E diet, indicating that dietary vitamin E is an important determinant of hepatic lipid peroxidation induced by chronic ethanol feeding.

Kentaro Yoshioka, Shinichi Kakumu, Motohiro Arao, Yasuhiko Tsutsumi, Masaki Inoue – 1 November 1989 – We investigated the production of tumor necrosis factor α by peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with chronic liver disease and its association with hepatitis activity. Tumor necrosis factor α production was measured with an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay.