Michelle J. Bingham, Harry J. McArdle – 1 October 1994 – We studied copper uptake from copper dihistidine complexes by plasma membrane vesicles isolated from rat liver and compared the data with those for uptake under the same conditions by hepatocytes cultured from rat liver to determine whether membrane vesicles can be used to study copper uptake. Marker enzyme analysis showed a 28‐fold increase in 5′‐nucleotidase activity, a slight increase in endoplasmic reticulum and no contamination with mitochondrial membranes.

Brian G. Harbrecht, Mauricio Di Silvio, A. J. Demetris, Richard L. Simmons, Timothy R. Billiar – 1 October 1994 – Tumor necrosis factor‐alpha is a principal mediator of the pathophysiological effects of endotoxemia and endotoxin shock. Tumor necrosis factor‐α also contributes to the stimulation of nitric oxide synthesis by the induction of the enzyme nitric oxide synthase in a variety of tissues.

Albert D. Min – 1 October 1994

Masahito Uemura, Ulrike Buchholz, Hideyuki Kojima, Andrea Keppler, Peter Hafkemeyer, Hiroshi Fukui, Tadasu Tsujii, Dietrich Keppler – 1 October 1994 – The significance of cysteinyl leukotrienes was investigated in patients with liver diseases by measurements of leukotriene E4 and N‐acetyl‐leukotriene E4 in urine.

Sherry S. Ansher, Walter Thompson – 1 October 1994 – Administration of whole‐cell diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine adsorbed (DTP vaccine) caused marked depression in the expression of mRNA for isozymes of cytochrome P‐450 in the livers of endotoxin‐responsive and nonresponsive mice. The levels of expression of mRNA for a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon–inducible (CYP 1A2) and an ethanol‐inducible (CYP2E1) form of P‐450 were reduced by 70% to 80% 8 to 12 hr after vaccination or Bordetella pertussis endotoxin administration.

Shotaro Sakisaka, Masaru Harada, Kazuhisa Gondo, Masao Yoshitake, Kyuichi Tanikawa – 1 October 1994 – The transcytotic vesicular pathway in isolated rat hepatocyte couplets was investigated using horseradish peroxidase. Ten to 20 min after horseradish peroxidase labeling, vesicles and tubules containing horseradish peroxidase were observed to be predominantly around the bile canaliculi.

Christoph Elsing, Hans Sägesser, JÜRg Reichen – 1 October 1994 – The aim of the investigation was to explore whether ursodeoxycholate, a tertiary bile acid with potential for treatment of chronic cholestasis in cirrhotic liver disease, has the same physiological effects in cirrhotic as in normal rats. Furthermore, we wanted to investigate whether ductular proliferation, as it occurred in this situation, increases the bicarbonate stimulatory effect of ursodeoxycholate.

Lukas Kenner, Yosuf El‐Shabrawi, Heinz Hutter, Michael Forstner, Kurt Zatloukal, Gerald Hoefler, Karl‐Heinz Preisegger, Robert Kurzbauer, Helmut Denk – 1 October 1994 – Tau protein is a member of the family of microtubule‐associated proteins, which support microtubule polymerization and stability. Under pathological conditions, tau is a major constituent of neurofibrillary tangles in nerve cells of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Mark S. Cattral, Alan N. Langnas, Rodney S. Markin, Dean L. Antonson, Thomas G. Heffron, Ira J. Fox, Michael F. Sorrell, Byers W. Shaw – 1 October 1994 – We determined the incidence and outcome of aplastic anemia among 56 patients who underwent liver transplantation for fulminant liver failure at the University of Nebraska Medical Center between July 1985 and December 1993. Aplastic anemia developed in 6 of 18 (33%) children and 1 of 19 (5%) adults who had fulminant non‐A, non‐B hepatitis; no cases of aplastic anemia occurred among patients with other causes of fulminant liver failure.

Hanns‐Ulrich Marschall, William James Griffiths, Ulrich Götze, Jie Zhang, Hubertus Wietholtz, Norbert Busch, Jan Sjövall, Siegfried Matern – 1 October 1994 – Ursodeoxycholic acid (750 mg/day) was administered orally to ten healthy subjects over a period of 10 days; 24 hr urine samples were collected the day before and on the last day of the study. Urinary bile acids were extracted, separated into groups of conjugates and analyzed by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry and fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry. Excretion of ursodeoxycholic acid rose from 70 to 2,915 μg/24 h.