Y Bacq, O Zarka, J Brechot, N Mariotte, S Vol, J Tichet, J Weill – 1 May 1996 – Except for increased serum alkaline phosphatase (AP) levels, the changes in liver function test (LFT) values during normal pregnancy have not been clearly established, mainly because most studies do not include matched controls. We therefore measured the serum values of routine liver tests including 5′‐nucleotidase and total bile acids in 103 healthy pregnant women (first trimester, n = 34; second trimester, n = 36; third trimester, n = 33) and in 103 age‐matched controls not receiving oral contraception.

R Mohamed, P R Forsey, M K Davies, J M Neuberger – 1 May 1996 – Both a prolonged QT interval and disturbance of autonomic nervous system function are markers of poor prognosis in patients with diabetes mellitus and alcoholic liver disease (ALD). We studied the prevalence of abnormal QT interval and autonomic nervous system dysfunction in 53 consecutive patients with end‐stage liver disease before and after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The maximum QT interval in any lead (QTmax) was assessed by two independent observers.

M Barone, A Francavilla, L Polimeno, E Ierardi, D Romanelli, P Berloco, A Di Leo, C Panella – 1 May 1996 – In this study, the stimulatory effect of bile salts (BS) was evaluated both In vitro, using hepatocyte primary cultures, and In vivo, in normal and 40% partially hepatectomized rats previously fed on BS‐ enriched diets for 4 weeks.

K Kurokohchi, M Carrington, D L Mann, T B Simonis, M A Alexander‐Miller, S M Feinstone, T Akatsuka, J A Berzofsky – 1 May 1996 – The expression of the HLA class I molecules on the cell surface was investigated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines using complement‐mediated cytotoxicity (CMC) and flow cytometric analysis. Although HLA‐A antigens were detected by CMC in all cell lines tested, HLA‐B and ‐C antigens were not detectable in six of seven HCC cell lines. These results were also confirmed by flow cytometric analysis focusing on HLA‐Bw4 and Bw6 public antigens.

G S Baroni, L D'Ambrosio, P Curto, A Casini, R Mancini, A M Jezequel, A Benedetti – 1 May 1996 – Interferon gamma (IFN‐γ) inhibits in vitro the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC), the primary extracellular matrix‐producing cells in liver fibrosis. This study was undertaken to determine in vivo the effect of IFN‐γ in the rat model of liver fibrosis induced by dimethylnitrosamine (DMN), where HSC activation represents an early response to cell injury. Rats were killed after 1 or 3 weeks of treatment with DMN, IFN‐γ, DMN + IFN‐γ, or saline.

J Heathcote – 1 May 1996

P K Yuet, D Blankschtein, J M Donovan – 1 April 1996 – To accurately determine the cholesterol (Ch) distribution between mixed micelles and vesicles in lithogenic bile, both ultracentrifugation and gel chromatography with the correct intermixed micellar/vesicular bile salt concentration (IMC) have been proposed. We have systematically compared both separation techniques with physiological model biles to ascertain their quantitative separation ability.

P H McGuinness, G A Bishop, D M Painter, R Chan, G W McCaughan – 1 April 1996 – The balance between a direct cytopathic effect by hepatitis C virus (HCV) and immune‐mediated injury remains unclear. This report aims to test the following hypotheses: (1) that intrahepatic HCV load would correlate with the degree of liver injury; (2) that interferon alfa (IFN‐α) would decrease intrahepatic HCV‐RNA levels. Liver tissues (n = 56) were obtained from 47 patients with chronic HCV (9 before and after IFN‐α therapy).

G V Gregorio, P Jara, L Hierro, C Diaz, A de la Vega, A Vegnente, R Iorio, F Bortolotti, C Crivellaro, L Zancan, H Daniels, B Portmann, G Mieli‐Vergani – 1 April 1996 – The comparative efficacy of prednisolone followed by interferon alfa (IFN‐α) versus IFN‐α alone in enhancing the rate of antibody to hepatitis B e antigen (anti‐HBe) seroconversion has not been evaluated in a large cohort of white children.

K Sone, M Maeda, K Wakabayashi, N Takeichi, M Mori, T Sugimura, M Nagao – 1 April 1996 – Trientine dihydrochloride (trientine) is an alternative medicinal copper chelating agent for patients with Wilson's disease of penicillamine intolerance. We examined the effects of trientine on the spontaneous development of hepatitis and hepatic tumors, by its short‐ term and long‐term administration to Long‐Evans cinnamon (LEC) rats with an accumulation of copper in the liver, as animal models of Wilson's disease.