Georg Wensing, Ramzi Sabra, Robert A. Branch – 1 May 1990 – Although sodium retention is a common coplication in advanced liver disease, the relationship between liver and kidney function in cirrhosis has not been well established. The objective of this study was to investigate this relationship in an experimental model of cirrhosis induced in phenobarbital‐treated rats by weekly intragatric adminstration of carbon terachloride. Liver function, measured by the aminopyrine breath test, and urinary sodium excretion on a constant salt diet, were measured weekly.

Antonello Pietrangelo, Emilio Rocchi, Luisa Schiaffonati, Ezio Ventura, Gaetano Cairo – 1 May 1990 – To clarify the pathogenesis of hepatic iron toxicity, we investigated the effect of chronic dietary iron overload on the expression of several genes in rat liver. After 10 wk of iron treatment, when only minor histological features of liver damage were appreciable, the level of pro‐α2(I)‐collagen mRNA was already higher than in control liver and increased further at 30 wk of treatment.

Henry N. Claman – 1 May 1990 – We quantitated numbers of mast cells in the sclerotic skin noted on the dorsa of the hands of 10 patients with porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT), and compared them with those of diffuse scleroderma and healthy controls. Mast cell counts in scleroderma and healthy controls. Mast cell counts in sclerodermoid skin of PCT patients were significantly greater than those in involved skin of 9 patients with diffuse scleroderma in its late stage and also greater than those in normal skin of 8 controls.

1 May 1990

Christopher C. Baker – 1 May 1990 – To further define the computed tomographic (CT) criteria on which to guide the nonsurgical treatment of adult patients with blunt hepatic injury, the authors retrospectively reviewed abdominal CT scans obtained before surgery during a 35‐month period. Blunt hepatic injury was diagnosed in 187 patients, and review revealed 37 patients in whom the liver was the site of sole or principal intraabdominal injury detected with the help of CT before surgery.

Veerapol Kukongviriyapan, Neill H. Stacey – 1 May 1990 – Isolated rat hepatocytes have been advocated as a model to study aspects of mechanism of chemicalinduced interference with biliary excretory function. Some technical problems do exist in studying efflux, such as the reuptake of the previously excreted substrate. Another concern is the loss of liver‐specific functions in hepatocytes with continuing time in culture. It is important to address such technical aspects and to determine whether the process of efflux is compromised in primary cultures of hepatocytes.

Chaitanya R. Divgi, Alfred M. Cohen – 1 May 1990 – We have established a large library of monoclonal antibodies against a human hepatoma cell line called FOCUS. One such monoclonal antibody (SF‐25) detects a 125‐kilodalton cell surface antigen found on FOCUS cells. As both the liver and the colon are of endodermal origin, we examined the possibility of expression in colon adenocarcinomas. This antigen was found in all 23 colon adenocarcinoma tissues surgically obtained but was absent in the adjacent normal mucosal counterpart as determined by a direct radioimmunohistologic technique.

Robert Goldin, John Saldanha, Howard Thomas, Stanislas Pol, Pierre Berthelot, Frederic Dubois – 1 May 1990

Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, Kamal G. Ishak, Lionel Rabin, Jeffrey M. Hoeg – 1 May 1990 – We describe three patients with cholesteryl ester storage disease. Diagnosis was confirmed by demonstrating a deficiency in lysosomal acid cholesteryl hydrolase activity in cultured skin fibroblasts from each of these patients. All had hepatomegaly, elevated serum aminotransferase activities and hyperlipoproteinemia. Histological examination of liver biopsy specimens before treatment revealed accumulation of fat within hepatocytes, bile duct epithelium and endothelial and Kupffer cells.

E. Anthony Jones, Nora V. Bergasa – 1 May 1990