Yasuo Sato, Takahiro Ochiya, Yuko Yasuda, Kenichi Matsubara – 1 April 1994 – Poly‐N‐para‐vinylbenzyl‐lactonamide (PVLA)‐coated reticulated polyurethane (PVLA‐RPU) has been employed for the long‐term maintenance of primary rat hepatocyte cultures. After 3 days of incubation of 2 × 107 hepatocytes/cm3 embedded in PVLA‐RPU discs and kept in culture medium, most cells showed typical hepatocyte morphology, with some bile canaliculus‐like intercellular spaces among the hepatocytes on examination with scanning and transmission electron microscopy.

Kenichi Kitani, Setsuko Kanai, Yuko Sato, Minoru Ohta – 1 April 1994 – Male Wistar rats were infused intravenously with taurochenodeoxycholate (0.4 μmol/min/100 gm) alone (group A) or with one of the three bile salts (tauroursodeoxycholate [group B], tauro β‐muricholate [group C] or tauro α‐muricholate [group D]) at a rate of 0.2 μmol/min/100/gm for 1 hr. One‐hour bile flow and bile salt excretion rates were significantly lower in group A than in the other three coinfused (B, C, D) groups.

Mitsuo Shimada, Takashi Matsumata, Takashi Maeda, Katsuhiko Yanaga, Akinobu Taketomi, Keizo Sugimachi – 1 April 1994 – Nine patients with hepatocellular carcinoma originating in the caudate lobe who underwent hepatic resection were studied. The caudate lobe was divided into three parts, according to the criteria of Kumon, including the Spiegel lobe, the paracaval portion and the caudate process. The tumors were located in the Spiegel lobe in four, the paracaval portion in four and the caudate process in one.

Paola Loria, Marco Bertolotti, M. Teresa Cassinadri, Michele A. Dilengite, Mara Bozzoli, Francesca Carubbi, Mauro Concari, M. Eugenia Guicciardi, Nicola Carulli – 1 April 1994 – To test whether de novo synthesis of cholesterol is a limiting factor for bile acid synthesis, we studied the acute effect of simvastatin, an inhibitor of HMG–coenzyme A reductase (the limiting step of cholesterol synthesis) on bile acid synthesis and biliary lipid secretion in subjects with interrupted enterohepatic circulation.

Masafumi Naito, Norio Hayashi, Hideki Hagiwara, Naoki Hiramatsu, Akinori Kasahara, Hideyuki Fusamoto, Takenobu Kamada – 1 April 1994 – We studied hepatitis C virus carriers with normal liver function to evaluate the histological features of their livers and the replicative levels of hepatitis C virus. Liver biopsies were performed in 22 hepatitis C virus carriers with persistently normal ALT levels.

Jean‐Michel Pawlotsky, Mustapha Ben Yahia, Chantal Andre, Marie‐Catherine Voisin, Liliane Intrator, Françoise Roudot‐Thoraval, Lionel Deforges, Christophe Duvoux, Elie‐Serge Zafrani, Jean Duval, Daniel Dhumeaux – 1 April 1994 – Hepatitis C virus–related chronic hepatitis may be associated with various immunological disorders.

Luigi Pagliaro, Antonio Craxí, Calogero Cammaá, Fabio Tiné, Vito Di Marco, Oreste Lo Iacono, Piero Almasio – 1 April 1994 – To identify predictors of short‐term and sustained ALT normalization after interferon treatment in adult patients with chronic hepatitis C, we performed a metanalysis of individual patients' data, with construction and cross‐validation of a prediction rule, in 361 patients from two randomized trials.

Raymond S. Koff – 1 April 1994

Dominique Deschamps, Virginie DeBeco, Cecile Fisch, Bernard Fromenty, Andre Guillouzo, Dominique Pessayre – 1 April 1994 – In an attempt to better understand the mechanisms for pseudoalcoholic liver lesions in human beings, we determined the effects of perhexiline on mitochondrial functions in mice and rats. A first series of studies suggested that protonated perhexiline entered mouse mitochondria along the mitochondrial membrane potential.

William M. Pandak, Z. Reno Vlahcevic, Douglas M. Heuman, Kaye S. Redford, John Y. L. Chiang, Philip B. Hylemon – 1 April 1994 – Cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase, the rate‐limiting enzyme in the bile acid synthesis pathway, is downregulated by taurocholate by way of negative feedback control at the level of gene transcription. The molecular basis of regulation of cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase by other hydrophobic bile salts and under more physiological conditions is not known.