Riccardo Utili, Marie F. Tripodi, Luigi E. Adinolfi, Giovanni B. Gaeta, Charles O. Abernathy, Hyman J. Zimmerman – 1 May 1990 – This study was designed to test the hypothesis that increasing the infusion rate of bile salts could overcome drug‐induced cholestasis. Cholestasis was induced by administration of 17.5 μmol/L estradiol‐17β‐D‐glucuronide during the infusion of taurocholate, tauroursodeoxycholate or dehydrocholate at 20 nmol/min/gm liver. After 30 min, a bolus of 10 μmol of the bile salts was added to the perfusate, and the infusion rate of each bile salt was increased.

Marios Z. Panos, Kevin Moore, Panayiotis Vlavianos, John B. Chambers, John V. Anderson, Alexander E. S. Gimson, Jeremy D. H. Slater, Lesley H. Rees, David Westaby, Roger Williams – 1 April 1990 – Hemodynamic changes induced by a single, total paracentesis were evaluated in 21 patients with tense ascites from whom 4 to 16 L of ascites were drained over 2 to 8 hr with no serious complications.

Paloma Maganto, Peter G. Traber, Christopher Rusnell, William O. Dobbins Iii, David Keren, Jorge J. Gumucio – 1 April 1990 – Hepatocytes isolated from livers of Fischer 344 rats and transplanted into the spleens of rats from the same strain survived for at least 15 mo in the absence of immunosuppressive drugs. Hepatocytes attached themselves only in the red pulp of the spleen, most commonly in clumps without a discernible structure.

John E. Coe, Kamal G. Ishak, Mary Jane Ross – 1 April 1990 – Liver tumors were found in most Armenian hamsters (Cricetulus migratorius) injected with on 15‐mg pellet of diethylstilbestrol. The tumors were detectable as early as 1.5 mo after diethylstilbestrol administration and were usually present as multiple nodules that progressively increased in size. Histologically, the multicentric neoplasms were all hepatocellular carcinomas of varied degrees of differentiation and frequently (42.8%) contained Mallory bodies; preneoplastic lesions were not observed.

Richard H. Moseley – 1 April 1990 – The relationships between extracellular pH (pHo), intracellular pH (pHi), and loss of cell viability were evaluated in cultured rat hepatocytes after ATP depletion by metabolic inhibition with KCN and iodoacetate (chemical hypoxia). pHi was measured in single cells by ratio imaging of 2′, 7′ ‐biscarboxy‐ethyl‐5, 6‐carboxyfluorescein (BCECF) fluorescence using multiparameter digitized video microscopy. During chemical hypoxia at pHo of 7.4, pHi decreased from 7.36 to 6.33 within 10 min. pHi remained at 6.1–6.5 for 30–40 min. (plateau phase).

Eric Fort, Denis Sautereau, Christine Silvain, Pierre Ingrand, Bernard Pillegand, Michel Beauchant – 1 April 1990 – A randomized trial was undertaken to determine the efficacy of nitroglycerin in addition to terlipressin infusion to improve the control of acute variceal hemorrhage compared with balloon tamponade. Fortyseven bleeding episodes in 34 cirrhotic patients were included, with terlipressin plus sublingual nitroglycerin in 23 episodes (group I) and balloon tamponade in 24 episodes (group II).

Gary C. Kanel, William Cassidy, Louis Shuster, Telfer B. Reynolds – 1 April 1990 – Although investigative research of animal models in cocaine metabolism and associated liver cell injury has been fairly extensive during the past 10 yr, little evidence of hepatotoxicity has been documented in man. We report a case of fulminant hepatic failure and acute rhabdomyolysis resulting from cocaine use.

Roger F. Butterworth – 1 April 1990 – The neuropeptide diazepam binding inhibitor (DBI) is an endogeneous allosteric modulator of gammaaminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors at the benzodiazepine recognition site. Recent theories on the neurochemical cause for hepatic encephalopathy have implicated activation of inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA systems. In 20 patients with hepatic disease, blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of ammonia and amino acids were measured.

A. Meike Jonker, Freke W. J. Dijkhuis, Frans G. M. Kroese, Machiel J. Hardonk, Joris Grond – 1 April 1990 – Galactosamine hydrochloride induces liver disease in tats that morphologically resembles drug‐induced hepatitis in man. In this study we analyzed the character of the inflammatory reaction following the toxic damage resulting from the administration of galactosamine hydrochloride using a broad panel of mono clonal antibodies to lymphocyte subsets and macrophages. Fat‐storing cells were identified with a polyclonal anti‐desmin antibody.

Eithan Galun, Daniel Shouval, Ruth Adler, Michal Shahaar, Meir Wilchek, Esther Hurwitz, Michael Sela – 1 April 1990 – Conjugates between chemotherapeutic agents and antibodies, linked by a dextran bridge, were previously shown to be effective in suppression of hepatoma growth in vitro and in vivo. However, scaling up of production of such conjugates may lead to a high degree of variation in molar ratios of drug to antibody in different batches. In this study, an alternative link between drug and antibody was evaluated.