Gerald Y. Minuk, Tony Gauthier, Aziz Gaharie, Liam J. Murphy – 1 October 1991 – Serum and hepatic polyamine concentrations including putrescine, spermidine and spermine were documented at various time intervals after partial hepatectomy in rats treated with GABA (500 μg/gm body wt) or isotonic saline. Aside from a transient decrease in spermidine levels, GABA treatment had no effect on serum polyamine concentrations.

Jorge J. Gumucio, Paul Martin – 1 October 1991 – A new four‐antigen recombinant immunoblot assay (4‐RIBA) for confirmation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) C‐100 enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) reactivity was tested in stored serum samples (1984–86) of blood donors and recipients and compared with results from polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of fresh (1990) plasma samples in donors and recipients from the original study.

Nelson Fausto – 1 October 1991 – Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a plasminogen‐like protein thought to be a humoral mediator of liver regeneration. A 145‐kilodalton tyrosyl phosphoprotein observed in rapid response to HGF treatment of intact target cells was identified by immunoblot analysis as the β subunit of the c‐met proto‐oncogene product, a membrane‐spanning tyrosine kinase. Covalent cross‐linking of 125I‐labeled ligand to cellular proteins of appropriate size that were recognized by antibodies to c‐met directly established the c‐met product as the cell‐surface receptor for HGF.

1 October 1991

1 October 1991

Juan Hidalgo, Allen Dingman, Justine S. Garvey – 1 October 1991 – Cellular and extracellular metallothionein contents of rat hepatocytes cultured in the presence of albumin (30 μmol/L) with zinc (1, 10, 50 and 100 μmol/L), copper (1, 10 and 50 μmol/L), zinc and copper (1, 10 and 50 μmol/L of each metal) or no metals in the culture medium have been measured by radioimmunoassay.

David A. Brenner – 1 October 1991 – Background. Cirrhosis is a diffuse process of hepatic fibrosis and regenerative nodule formation of unknown pathogenesis. Transforming growth factor (TGF) β1 induces the production of extracellular matrix proteins by liver cells and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis in laboratory animals. TGFα is a hepatocyte mitogen that participates in liver regeneration.

1 October 1991

Yukihiko Adachi, Hiroaki Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Kurumi, Mika Shouji, Motokazu Kitano, Toshio Yamamoto – 1 October 1991 – We conducted an experimental study to examine the possibility that ATP is involved in the mechanism by which bile acids are excreted through the liver canalicular membrane in opposing the concentration gradient. Canalicular membrane vesicles were purified from the livers of Sprague‐Dawley rats, and the uptake of tritiated sodium taurocholate into canalicular membrane vesicles was determined by rapid filtration technique.

Stephen Fitzgerald, Yashwant G. Deshpande, Han Q. Nguyen, Donald L. Kaminski – 1 October 1991 – The role of the enteric nervous system of the gallbladder on mucosal water absorption was evaluated by intraluminal administration of capsaicin, a selective stimulant of afferent nerve endings. It has been postulated that the neural responses of the gallbladder are peptidergic and mediated by prostanoids. Anesthetized cats underwent gallbladder perfusion with a physiological buffer solution containing 14C polyethylene glycol as a nonabsorbable tracer to quantitate mucosal water absorption.