1 April 1991

Carlo Sabbá, Giovanna Ferraioli, Paul Genecin, Luis Colombato, Paolo Buonamico, Emanuel Lerner, Kenneth J. W. Taylor, Roberto J. Groszmann – 1 April 1991 – In an operator‐blind design, we used an echo‐Doppler duplex system to examine superior mesenteric artery and portal vein hemodynamics on two consecutive mornings in 12 fasting cirrhotic patients and 12 matched controls, randomized to a standardized 355 kcal mixed‐liquid meal vs. water.

Hiroshi Eguchi, Patricia A. McCuskey, Robert S. McCuskey – 1 April 1991 – After acute ethanol ingestion in C57B1/6 mice, phagocytic activity of Kupffer cells and hepatic microcirculation were examined by in vivo and electron microscopy. A ratio of Kupffer cells that phagocytosed 0.8 μm fluorescent latex particles to sinusoids containing blood flow (number of Kupffer cells/number of sinusoids containing blood flow) was used as a measure of Kupffer cell phagocytic activity.

Steven N. Lichtman, John Keku, Richard L. Clark, John H. Schwab, Ryan B. Sartor – 1 April 1991 – Small bowel bacterial overgrowth, which develops in surgically created jejunal self‐filling blind loops, is associated with hepatic injury in susceptible rat strains. The histological findings are portal tract inflammation and bile duct proliferation and destruction.

Kenneth R. Feingold, Mary E. Barker, Albert L. Jones, Carl Grunfeld – 1 April 1991 – Tumor necrosis factor and other cytokines mediate the body's response to infection and inflammation. Long‐term administration of tumor necrosis factor causes liver hypertrophy, and our laboratory has shown that tumor necrosis factor acutely increases hepatic DNA synthesis. The purpose of this study was to determine which specific cell types in the liver undergo DNA synthesis in response to tumor necrosis factor.

Alastair J. Macgilchrist, David Sumner, John L. Reid – 1 April 1991 – The blood pressure responses to intravenous infusions of norepinephrine and angiotensin II, sympathetic and nonsympathetic vasoconstricting agents, respectively, were measured in 20 patients with cirrhosis (10 Child‐Pugh grade A and 10 Child‐Pugh grades B or C) and in 20 healthy subjects. The log PD20 (dose of agonist required to raise blood pressure by 20 mm Hg) for norepinephrine was 4.78 ± 0.36 (mean ± S.D.) in patients with severe cirrhosis and 4.36 ± 0.37 in controls, p < 0.01.

Peter T. Donaldson, Derek G. Doherty, Karen M. Hayllar, Ian G. McFarlane, Philip J. Johnson, Roger Williams – 1 April 1991 – After nearly 18 years of research, the association between human leukocyte antigens A1‐B8‐DR3 and autoimmune chronic active hepatitis still provokes debate. The principal reasons for this are disease heterogeneity and racial variation in the distribution of human leukocyte antigens between populations.

Jorge J. Gumucio, Michael C. Kew – 1 April 1991 – To determine serum thyroxine‐binding globulin (TBG) levels, we used radioimmunoassay, and compared the results obtained with other tests in 231 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection to evaluate its clinical implications. All of these patients were hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)‐positive.

Patricia E. Ganey, Barbara Keller, Steven N. Lichtman, John J. Lemasters, Ronald G. Thurman – 1 March 1991 – A new method was developed to monitor Kupffer cell phagocytosis continuously in perfused liver using a fluorescent probe, rhodamine‐gelatin, synthesized from gelatin and rhodamine isothiocyanate. In perfused rat liver, phagocytosis by Kupffer cells was assessed both by uptake of the dye and from fluorescence measured from the liver surface. Uptake of rhodamine‐gelatin and surface fluorescence (520 → 585 nm) increased as perfusate concentrations of rhodamine‐gelatin were elevated.

1 March 1991