Per Stå, Ulrika Broomé, Annika Scheynius, Ragnar Befrits, Rolf Hultcrantz – 1 May 1995 – The mechanisms underlying iron‐induced liver fibrogenesis in patients with genetic hemochromatosis are poorly understood. We studied signs of Kupffer cell activation and inflammatory responses in liver biopsy specimens obtained from 15 patients with untreated and six patients with treated hemochromatosis. Immunohisto‐chemistry was performed on 11 of the untreated and all treated patients. Three of the untreated patients (20%) had cirrhosis and eight (53%) had fibrosis.

Taketoshi Suehiro, Mitsuo Shimada, Takashi Matsumata, Akinobu Taketomi, Kazuharu Yamamoto, Keizo Sugimachi – 1 May 1995 – Thrombomodulin (TM) converts thrombin from procoagulant into anticoagulant protein to activate protein C. Thrombin also plays an important role in the metastatic process of cancer cells. We performed an immunohistochemical and clinicopathological study of TM in 141 cases with resected hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) measuring less than 6 cm in diameter. Twenty‐five specimens (17.73%) stained positive for TM. TM was found in the cytoplasm and surface of cancer cells.

John Devlin, Peter Donaldson, Bernard Portmann, Nigel Heaton, Kai‐Chah Tan, Roger Williams – 1 May 1995

David E. J. Jones, Oliver F. W. James, Margaret F. Bassendine – 1 May 1995 – Background/Aims: A double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) was conducted in 180 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) to define the efficacy and safety of UDCA. Efficacy was assessed by time to treatment failure defined as death; liver transplantation; histological progression; development of varices, ascites, or encephalopathy; doubling of total serum bilirubin levels; progression of fatigue or pruritus; drug toxicity; or voluntary withdrawal.

C. A. Wilco Snel, K. Sandy Pang, Gerard J. MulderD – 1 May 1995 – The relation between the rate of glutathione (GSH) conjugation and hepatic GSH content was studied in the rat in vivo and the in situ single‐pass‐perfused rat liver preparation with bromosulfophthalein (BSP) as the model substrate. The biliary excretion of the BSP‐GSH conjugate and the hepatic GSH content were monitored simultaneously during intravenous infusions with BSP in the rat in vivo, and during liver perfusions with BSP‐containing perfusion medium.

María José Gómez‐Lechón, José Castelli, Isabel Guillén, Enrique o'Connor, Toshikazu Nakamura, Ricardo Fabra, Ramón Trullenque – 1 May 1995 – The effect of recombinant human hepatocyte growth factor (h‐rHGF), a potent mitogen for hepatocytes, was investigated in primary cultures of human hepatocytes. Here, we describe a series of experiments to investigate the kinetics of its mitogenic action, as well as its metabolic effects on cultured human hepatocytes.

Yury Persidsky, Anne‐Marie Steffan, Jean‐Louis Gendrault, Bruno Hurtrel, Stefan Berger, Cathy Royer, Hans‐Jochen Stutte, Elizabeth Muchmore, Anne‐Marie Aubertin, André Kirn – 1 May 1995 – The pathogenesis of liver injury, which remains unclear in the course of human immunodeficiency virus infection, can be investigated in simian immunodeficiency virus—infected macaques, which develop an immunodeficiency disease resembling human acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Domenico Alvaro, Antonio Benedetti, Alessandro Gigliozzi, Adriano Bini, Paola Della Guardia, Tiziana la Rosa, Anne Marie Jezequel, Livio Capocaccia – 1 April 1995 – We investigated whether bile salts (BS) with different hydrophobic‐hydrophilic properties interact with ethanol on bile secretion, enzyme (aspartate transaminase [AST], lactate dehydrogenase [LDH]) release in the perfusate, liver ultrastructure, and vesicular exocytosis in the isolated perfused rat liver.

Pierre Moffatt, Gabriel L. Plaa, Francine Denizeau – 1 April 1995 – Metallothionein (MT) is a small cysteine‐rich protein thought to be mainly involved in metal regulation and detoxification. The implication of MT in cell growth and differentiation has also been suggested. This latter hypothesis was further investigated in adult rat hepatocytes induced to proliferate by epidermal growth factor (EGF). Exposure of hepatocytes to EGF resulted in significant increases (≈twofold) in MT protein and MT‐1 messenger RNA (mRNA) levels, which were maximal after 48 hours.

Martin Hertl, P. Robert C. Harvey, Paul E. Swanson, Delin D. West, Todd K. Howard, Surendra Shenoy, Steven M. Strasberg – 1 April 1995 – Preservation injury to bile ducts is a serious problem in liver transplantation, especially when preservation exceeds 12 hours. The authors hypothesized that the injury was caused by contact of bile ducts with bile salts during cold preservation and might be preventable by infusion of more hydrophilic bile salts.