Noboru Manabe, Michèle Chevallier, Philippe Chossegros, Xavier Causse, Sylviane Guerret, Christian Trépo, Jean‐Alexis Grimaud – 1 December 1993 – The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of interferon‐α on liver fibrosis with an established quantitative histochemical method for determining collagen as a marker. 59 patients (31 men, 28 women; 47 ± 14 yr) with chronic non‐A, non‐B hepatitis (92% with hepatitis C virus antibody) received subcutaneous injections of 3 or 1 MU recombinant interferon‐α2b or placebo thrice weekly for 24 wk.

Elke Roeb, Lutz Graeve, Rolf Hoffmann, Karl Decker, Dylan R. Edwards, Peter C. Heinrich – 1 December 1993 – The steady‐state levels of extracellular matrix proteins are regulated by the rates of their synthesis and degradation. Metalloproteinases and their specific inhibitors, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases‐1 and ‐2 are believed to play a crucial role in extracellular matrix protein degradation. Here we show that the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases‐1 is expressed in rat hepatocytes in primary culture and regulated by inflammatory cytokines.

David E. Cohen, Eric W. Kaler, Martin C. Carey – 1 December 1993 – Cholesterol, a highly insoluble molecule, is transported in bile by specialized lipid aggregates. On the basis of extensive correlations between laboratory‐prepared model biles and surgically harvested native biles, it has become generally accepted that biliary cholesterol is solubilized by simple and mixed micelles, single bilayered (unilamellar) vesicles and, under certain conditions, multilamellar vesicles (liposomes or liquid crystals) all composed of bile salts, lecithin and cholesterol in different proportions.

1 December 1993

T. Jake Liang, Lennox J. Jeffers, K. Rajender Reddy, Maria De Medina, I. Talley Parker, Hugo Cheinquer, Victor Idrovo, Alfredo Rabassa, Eugene R. Schiff – 1 December 1993 – Chronic hepatitis B virus infection is closely associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, which is a major cause of cancer death worldwide. Recent studies have implicated hepatitis C virus infection as a major pathogenic agent of HBsAg‐negative hepatocellular carcinoma.

Yasushi Shiratori, Hiroshi Takada, Yohko Hikiba, Ryo Nakata, Ken'Ichi Okano, Yutaka Komatsu, Yasuro Niwa, Masayuki Matsumura, Shuichiro Shiina, Masao Omata, Kazuo Kamii – 1 December 1993 – In a previous paper, we demonstrated proteinous chemotactic factors released from hepatocytes exposed to ethanol. In this study, we further characterized the chemotactic factors released from ethanoltreated hepatocytes. After fractionating the conditioned medium with gel chromatography, we demonstrated chemotactic activity at molecular weights of around 20 and 40 kD.

Stefan Post, Pablo Palma, Markus Rentsch, Alberto P. Gonzalez, Michael D. Menger – 1 December 1993 – This quantitative in vivo fluorescence microscopy study investigated the relative impact of an optimized rinse solution (warm Carolina rinse) and that of an established storage solution (University of Wisconsin solution) on various pathomechanisms of hepatic reperfusion injury after cold storage. Syngeneic orthotopic, arterialized liver transplantation was performed in male Lewis rats after 24 hr of cold ischemia (n = 24).

Wayne W. Lamorte, Daniel P. O'Leary, Michael L. Booker, Thayer E. Scott – 1 December 1993 – Epidemiological studies have provided conflicting information about the relationship between fat consumption and gallstone formation. We studied cholesterol gallstone formation in prairie dogs after 1 wk of the following diets: (group A) a control diet with no added cholesterol and 5% of calories from corn oil, (group B) 1.2% cholesterol with 5% of calories from corn oil or (group C) 1.2% cholesterol with 40% of calories from corn oil.

Fred Askari – 1 December 1993 – We have combined a receptor‐mediated DNA delivery system with the endosomal lysis ability of adenovirus and shown that DNA can be delivered into primary hepatocytes, resulting in a high level of gene expression. When asialoorosomucoid conjugated with poly(L‐lysine) was used to deliver the Escherichia coli β‐galactosidase gene into primary hepatocytes through binding with the hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor, only a low level of β‐galactosidase was detectable, with less than 0.1% of the hepatocytes being transfected.

Raymond S. Koff, Mark A. Zern – 1 December 1993