Peter K. Mays, Robin McAnulty, Geoffrey J. Laurent – 1 December 1991 – Liver collagen levels are determined by a balance between synthesis and degradation, processes known to have rapid rates in growing animals. We report age‐related changes in liver collagen synthesis and degradation rates, as well as protein synthesis rates, in rats at five ages from 1 to 24 mo. Fractional collagen synthesis rates were determined after injection of [14C]proline with a flooding dose of unlabeled proline and its incorporation as hydroxy‐[14C]proline into proteins.

Shuhei Nishiguchi, Tetsuo Kuroki, Tsuneo Yabusako, Shuichi Seki, Kenzo Kobayashi, Takeyuki Monna, Shuzo Otani, Masami Sakurai, Toshio Shikata, Sukeo Yamamoto – 1 December 1991 – The relationship between alcoholic liver disease and hepatitis C virus was studied in 80 patients by searching for hepatitis C virus RNA with the polymerase chain reaction and by measuring hepatitis C virus antibodies.

Hiroaki Iwamoto, Shigeru Sakamoto, Hajime Nawata – 1 December 1991 – The effect of serum from patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma on the release of prostaglandin E2 by the human histiocytic lymphoma cell line U937 was investigated to explain the mechanism underlying the immunoregulatory dysfunction of monocytes in cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Takashi Inamoto, William R. Brown – 1 December 1991 – Various pathophysiological relationships between IgA and the asialoglycoprotein receptor on hepatocytes have been proposed. As a step toward defining these relationships, we purified the receptor from human livers by means of p‐aminophenyl β‐D‐thiogalactopyranoside‐agarose affinity chromatography. Unexpectedly, we found the asialoglycoprotein receptor to be associated specifically with IgG.

Luis Viola, Eduardo Pimentel, Pedro Morgante, José Luis Fernández, Albert Parés, Josep Marí Barrera, Joan Caballería, Guadalupe Ercilla, Miquel Bruguera, Llorencl Caballería, Ricardo Castillo, Joan Rodés – 1 December 1991

Stephan Krahenbuhl, Fred L. Weber, Eric P. Brass – 1 December 1991 – Glucose homeostasis and fatty acid metabolism are abnormal in patients with cirrhosis. To assess the metabolic response to starvation in an animal model of cirrhosis, glycogen and fuel metabolism were characterized in rats with CCl4‐induced cirrhosis studied 2 wk after 10 weekly doses of CCl4. Plasma concentrations of glucose and β‐hydroxybutyrate were not different between fed CCl4‐treated and control rats, but plasma nonesterified fatty acid concentrations were higher in cirrhotic animals (0.25 ± 0.01 vs.

George Bird, Johnson Y. N. Lau, John Koskinas, Claire Wicks, Roger Williams – 1 December 1991 – In a randomized, controlled trial to investigate the possible benefit of insulin and glucagon therapy in severe acute alcoholic hepatitis, 86 patients were randomized to receive 30 U insulin and 3 mg glucagon in 250 ml 5% dextrose over 12 hr each day for 3 wk or a similar regime of identical placebo. No significant differences were seen in patients' clinical characteristics and disease severity in the treated and placebo groups.

Tariq Ismail, John Howl, Mark Wheatley, Paul McMaster, James M. Neuberger, Alastair J. Strain – 1 December 1991 – Although the ability of hormones and growth factors to stimulate DNA synthesis in rat hepatocytes has been investigated extensively, no such study of human hepatocytes has been reported. Here we describe a series of experiments to identify those factors that regulate human hepatocyte DNA synthesis in vitro and which therefore may play a role in the control of human liver regeneration.

Takashi Maeda, Bruce E. Loveland, Merrill J. Rowley, Ian R. Mackay – 1 December 1991 – Autoantibodies in primary biliary cirrhosis recognize mitochondrial 2‐oxacid dehydrogenase complexes, particularly the E2 subunits. Reactivity with the E3 subunit, common to each of the enzyme complexes, was sought by immunoblotting, with sera screened at 1:100 instead of the conventional 1:1,000 dilution. This was found in 11 of 29 sera from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis but also in 10 of 40 sera from normal subjects.

1 December 1991