Hideki Ohkubo, Kunio Okuda, Shinji Iida – 1 March 1981 – To elucidate the mechanism whereby corticosteroids decrease the serum bilirubin concentration, changes in bilirubin metabolism were studied in patients with Gilbert's syndrome using a bilirubin load test and/or nicotinic acid test before and after corticosteroid treatment. Steroid administration increased hepatic clearance and uptake of bilirubin; the transfer rate for biliary excretion was unaffected.

Jesse Summers – 1 March 1981

Yoshitaka Shimizu, Hiroshi Naruto, Setsuko Ida, Masateru Kohakura – 1 March 1981 – Urinary coproporphyrin isomers were measured in 17 patients with Rotor's syndrome, 65 phenotypically normal relatives of 14 patients from eight families, and 21 normal subjects. Coproporphyrin I was elevated in Rotor's syndrome (p < 0.001) and, to a lesser degree, in phenotypically normal parents (p < 0.005), children, and siblings (p < 0.025) as compared to normal controls. Coproporphyrin III in patients, parents, and children did not differ from that in normal controls.

Hans Popper – 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.

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

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.

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.