Dominique Bernuau, Anne Poliard, Gérard Feldmann – 1 September 1988 – Cellular analysis of hepatic α‐fetoprotein gene expression in normal adult rat and during regeneration induced by partial hepatectomy was performed at the cellular level by in situ hybridization using 35S‐labeled complementary DNA probes and immunoperoxidase techniques. In normal adult rat liver sections, a few α‐fetoprotein mRNA‐cDNA hybrids are detected over all hepatocytes. No protein is detected with routine immunoperoxidase methods.

Alberto Montanari, Isabella Simoni, Daniele Vallisa, Antonio Trifirò, Rossana Colla, Roberto Abbiati, Loris Borghi, Almerico Novarini – 1 September 1988 – Free amino acids were measured under postabsorptive conditions in plasma and intracellular water of skeletal muscle obtained by needle biopsy in nine healthy controls and 14 subjects suffering from clinically stable liver cirrhosis. The aromatic amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine in cirrhotics were elevated to the same extent in plasma and in muscle water.

Francine Goulet, Claire Normand, Odette Morin – 1 September 1988 – Hepatocytes, prepared from normal adult rat liver, were seeded onto a collagen substratum and cultured alone or in the presence of rat liver endothelial cells. When hepatocytes were cultured alone in a hormonally defined serum‐free medium, decreased albumin production and rapid morphological deterioration of bile canaliculi structures and gap junctions occurred within 4 to 5 days.

Mario Chojkier, Michael Flaherty, Beverly Peterkofsky, Gopa H. Majmudar, Robert G. Spanheimer, David A. Brenner – 1 September 1988 – Weight loss is correlated with a specific decrease in collagen synthesis in extrahepatic tissues, mainly through modulation of mRNA levels. Here, we investigated the response to weight loss in the rat liver. Male rats were either fed ad libitum or fasted for 92 hr; fasted animals lost ∼20% of their initial body weight. Following i.p. injection of [5‐3H]proline, hepatic collagen was extracted and de novo collagen production was measured.

Kiyoshi Hasegawa, Katsumi Yamauchi, Takaji Furukawa, Hiroshi Obata – 1 September 1988 – By using dual color fluorescence analysis, peripheral T cells can be divided into four different subsets, Leu‐2a+, Leu‐2a+15−, Leu‐3a+8+ and Leu‐3a+8− cells. The ratio of these T cell subsets in hepatitis B virus‐induced hepatitis patients was studied and compared with that of controls. No significant difference was found in acute hepatitis and chronic hepatitis, but an elevation of Leu‐2a+15− (29.5 ± 2.8% vs. 18.8 ± 4.1%, p < 0.05) as well as a reduction of Leu‐2a+15+ cells (3.2 ± 0.7% vs.

Tuvia Gilat – 1 September 1988

Ki M. Mak, Charles S. Lieber – 1 September 1988 – Lipocytes and transitional cells in alcoholic liver disease were analyzed by quantitative morphometry in liver biopsy specimens of 17 alcoholic patients. In fatty livers, 93% of the perisinusoidal cells were lipocytes with a volume of lipid droplets occupying more than 20% of the individual cell volume. In fatty livers with perivenular fibrosis, 83% of the cells were lipocytes and 17% were transitional cells with lipid droplets of less than 20% of the cell volume.

Robert W. Schrier, Vicente Arroyo, Mauro Bernardi, Murray Epstein, Jens H. Henriksen, Joan Rodés – 1 September 1988 – Renal sodium and water retention and plasma volume expansion have been shown to precede ascites formation in experimental cirrhosis. The classical “underfilling” theory, in which ascites formation causes hypovolemia and initiates secondary renal sodium and water retention, thus seems unlikely.

Hyo‐Suk Lee, M. S. Rajagopalan, Girish N. Vyas – 1 September 1988 – This study was performed to determine the relationship of the activation of ras and c‐myc oncogenes in human hepatocellular carcinoma to the hepatitis B virus gene expression or the presence of hepatitis B virus DNA/RNA at the cellular level. This was done using immunocytochemical analysis with two different antibodies on serial sections.

Anna S. F. Lok, Ching‐Lung Lai – 1 September 1988 – Fifty‐one asymptomatic Chinese hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carrier children (34 boys, 17 girls), age 1 to 15 years (median: 10 years), were prospectively followed for up to 4 years (median: 30 months) to determine the natural evolution of clinical, biochemical and virological features during the early phase of chronic hepatitis B virus infection.