Glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans induce gap junction expression and restore transcription of tissue‐specific mRNAs in primary liver cultures

Michiyasu Fujita, David C. Spray, Haing Choi, Juan C. Saez, Tohru Watanabe, Larry C. Rosenberg, Elliott L. Hertzberg, Lola M. Reid – 1 January 1987 – Normal rat hepatocytes maintained on tissue culture plastic and in serum‐supplemented medium lose their gap junctions within 12 hr and expression of their tissue‐specific functions within 24 to 72 hr. The gap junctions are lost via internalization and degradation, and the differentiated functions due to loss of synthesis and to rapid degradation of tissue‐specific mRNAs.

Mono‐octanoin in the dissolution of gallstones in bile ducts: Limitations and precautions

Johnson L. Thistle – 1 January 1987 – The efficacy and safety of mono‐octanoin, a cholesterol solvent for the direct dissolution of stones in the biliary tract, was assessed by collating case reports on 343 patients provided by 222 physicians who used the material between 1977 and 1983. Most patients had previously undergone cholecystectomy, with common duct exploration, the majority within the preceding six weeks. In most, sphincterotomy was impossible or if carried out, had not induced stone passage.

Metabolic state of the rat liver with ethanol: Comparison of in vivo31phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy with freeze clamp assessment

John H. Helzberg, Mark S. Brown, Daniel J. Smith, John C. Gore, Ellen R. Gordon – 1 January 1987 – In vivo31phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to measure the hepatic metabolic state in various groups of rats given ethanol, a control liquid diet or a solid chow diet. The use of selective presaturation pulses applied to the broad phosphorus resonances of immobile phospholipids permitted reliable determination of ATP/ADP ratios by quantitation of the ATP‐β and ATP‐γ peak areas.

Alcoholic liver injury: Defenestration in noncirrhotic livers—a scanning electron microscopic study

Thomas Horn, Per Christoffersen, Jens H. Henriksen – 1 January 1987 – The fenestration of hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells in 15 needle biopsies obtained from chronic alcoholics without cirrhosis was studied by scanning electron microscopy. As compared to nonalcoholics, a significant reduction in the number of fenestrae and porosity of the sinusoidal lining wall (fractional area of fenestrae) was observed in acinar Zone 3, both in biopsies with and without Zone 3 fibrosis as judged by light microscopy.

Fetal and adult human liver differ markedly in the fluidity and lipid composition of their microsomal membranes

Jaime Kapitulnik, Evelyn Weil, Ron Rabinowitz, Michael M. Krausz – 1 January 1987 – The fluidity and lipid composition of the human hepatic microsomal membrane were studied in 11 livers from 16‐ to 21‐week‐old fetuses and in 5 adult livers, and compared with those of fetal and adult rat liver microsomes. Membrane fluidity was analyzed by measurement of fluorescence polarization using the fluorophore 1,6‐diphenyl‐1,3,5‐hexatriene.

Low bone turnover state in primary biliary cirrhosis

Anthony J. Stellon, Adrian Webb, Juliet Compston, Roger Williams – 1 January 1987 – To determine whether bone loss in patients with chronic cholestatic liver disease is the consequence of a high or low bone turnover state, 30 female patients with biopsy‐proven primary biliary cirrhosis underwent iliac crest biopsy following double tetracycline labeling. The mean trabecular bone volume was decreased as a result of trabecular plate thinning in both the premenopausal (p < 0.02) and postmenopausal (p < 0.05) patients, compared to age‐ and sex‐matched controls.

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