Kazuaki Kamisaka, Hidenori Maezawa, Tooru Inagaki, Kenichi Okano – 1 May 1981 – Human Z protein from liver was purified to homogeneity. The protein has a molecular weight of 11,000 and an isoelectric point of pH 5.8. Circular dichroism spectra of Z protein‐bilirubin (uncon‐jugated and diglucuronide) complexes revealed two ellipticity extrema, a negative peak at 460 nm, and a positive peak at 410 nm. Human serum albumin had a higher affinity for bilirubin than did Z protein.

1 May 1981

John C. Hoefs – 1 May 1981 – Serum and ascites protein concentration and ascites cell concentration alterations were determined serially during diuresis in 27 patients with uncomplicated liver disease. The total protein concentration in ascites increased from 1.38 ± 0.96 gm% to 2.86 ± 1.28 gm% (p < 0.001); the serum protein concentration from 6.26 ± 0.81 gm% to 7.24 ± 0.93 gm% (p < 0.001), and the ascites to serum ratio of the total protein concentration from 0.21 ± 0.13 to 0.38 ± 0.14 (p < 0.001).

Elisabeth St. Öcklin, Fred Gudat, Gunthild Krey, Ursula Dürmüller, Markus Gasser, Martin Schmid, Georg Stalder, Leonardo Bianchi – 1 May 1981 – The finding that the recently described hepatitis B (HB)‐associated delta antigen (δ Ag) is preserved in pronase‐treated, formalin‐fixed paraffin sections allowed a combined prospective and retrospective immunohistological study of its occurrence in 571 liver biopsies.

Ali Al‐Tuwaijri, Kemal Akdamar, Nicholas R. di Luzio – 1 March 1981 – The reticuloendothelial system has been implicated in galactosamine‐induced liver injury because of a correlation between phagocytic alterations induced by colloidal carbon or endotoxin, and development of liver necrosis. To evaluate this concept, the influence of galactosamine on liver function and histology was determined in rats in which the reticuloendothelial system was normal, stimulated, or depressed.

Swan N. Thung, Michael A. Gerber – 1 March 1981 – Recent evidence suggests that hepatitis B virions (HBV) and HBsAg particles contain receptors for polymerized human serum albumin (pHSA). We studied, by immunohistochemical techniques, the relationship between HBsAg and pHSA receptors in liver tissue from eight patients with chronic HBV infection and in a human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (PLC/PRF/5) producing HBsAg. Both parallel sections and double fluorescent antibody staining of liver tissue demonstrated that only HBsAg‐containing hepatocytes expressed pHSA receptors.

1 March 1981

Stephen P. Young, Philip Aisen – 1 March 1981 – Isolated rat hepatocytes accumulate iron from iron‐transferrin by a process which is dependent on the temperature and on the transferrin concentration, and which is diminished by treatment of the cells with a proteolytic enzyme. These observations are consistent with a mechanism for iron uptake into hepatocytes involving the binding of iron‐transferrin to a specific cell‐surface receptor.

1 March 1981

Bruce F. Scharschmidt, Emmet B. Keeffe, Donald A. Vessey, Nancy M. Blankenship, Robert K. Ockner – 1 March 1981 – Considerable evidence suggests that liver plasma membrane (LPM) NaK‐ATPase [(Na+ + K+)‐dependent adenosinetriphosphatase] and Mg‐ATPase (Mg2+‐dependent adenosinetriphosphatase) activity and lipid fluidity are important in liver cell functions such as bile formation. However, little is known regarding factors which might alter these membrane properties in vivo.