Kenneth Holt, Michael Bennett, Mario Chojkier – 1 September 1984 – The mechanisms responsible for the increased hepatic collagen deposition in alcoholic cirrhosis remain unknown. The question of whether ethanol or acetaldehyde has a direct effect on collagen and noncollagen protein production was investigated in human fibroblasts with no detectable activity of alcohol dehydrogenase to distinguish the effects of these metabolites. To eliminate environmental factors, protein production by confluent human skin, fetal and hepatic fibroblasts was studied after three passages.

Tse Wen Chang, Esteban Celis, Richard W. Miller, Vincent R. Zurawski, Patrick C. Kung – 1 September 1984 – Lymphocytes isolated from recipients of hepatitis B vaccine were studied for their immune response to HBsAg in vitro. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMs) from 70 to 80% of 40 vaccinees yielded proliferative indices larger than 2 after 5 to 7 days incubation with HBsAg. This in vitro proliferative response could be augmented by incubating the cells with HBsAg and supernatants of activated T cells for 2 weeks or longer.

Martin C. Carey – 1 September 1984 – This report describes a rigorous physical‐chemical approach to determine the solubilities of unconjugated bilirubin in model bile systems. In the absence of calcium ions, metastable and equilibrium solubilities can be obtained by acidimetric (HC1) titration of excess unconjugated bilirubin in aqueous solutions of simple and mixed conjugated bile salt micelles. The experiments must be performed with degassed water under argon, in dim light and at constant temperature and ionic strength.

R. Thomas Holzbach – 1 September 1984 – There is no genetically susceptible, spontaneous and naturally occurring animal model for human cholesterol cholelithiasis. The disease has been reported to occur spontaneously only rarely in some primates. The human disease is probably multifactorial; therefore, the finding or development through inbreeding of a spontaneous genetic model is unlikely. The two most popular animals in use today as models are rodent species: hamster and prairie dog.

1 September 1984

Elliot S. Vesell – 1 September 1984

Samuel W. French, Nancy C. Benson, Piera S. Sun – 1 September 1984 – Rats fed ethanol from 21 to 130 days were subjected to one or more episodes of hypoxia (6% O2) in order to determine if ethanol predisposed to centrilobular liver necrosis induced by hypoxia. Pair‐fed control rats were fed the diet regimen in parallel with the ethanol‐fed rats through an indwelling gastric cannula. The diet and ethanol were fed continuously 24 hr per day so as to maintain high blood alcohol levels in the ethanol‐fed rats.

J. Donald Ostrow – 1 September 1984 – Pigment gallstones are of two major types, black and earthy brown, each consisting of calcium salts of bilirubin and other anions, along with an unmeasured residue that is largely mucin glycoproteins. Studies in model systems indicate that the small proportion of unconjugated bilirubin in bile is solubilized by bile salts and that the ionized bilirubin is more soluble than the protonated diacid. Solubility is decreased by added lecithin but is unaffected by cholesterol.

R. Thomas Holzbach – 1 September 1984 – Major discrepancies exist between both the degree (or cholesterol excess limit) and duration of metastable cholesterol supersaturation in concentrated model biles and native human gallbladder bile. The comparatively reduced metastability of in vitro model systems suggests that a stabilizing factor is absent in these more concentrated systems. In contrast, the metastable supersaturation behavior of the dilute model and hepatic biles is similar particularly with respect to their markedly prolonged metastability, i.e., nucleation time.

Martin C. Carey – 1 September 1984 – Cholesterol is solubilized by bile salt and bile salt‐lecithin micelles without appreciable alteration in preexisting micellar size or structure. In dilute (∼ 3 gm per dl) model bile, but not in concentrated (∼ 10 gm per dl) systems, supramicellar concentrations of cholesterol are also solubilized in “stable” microdispersions of small lecithin‐cholesterol vesicles (∼ 200 to 400 A in radius).