Felix J. Frey, Heinz J. Schaad, Eberhard L. Renner, Fritz F. Horber, Brigitte M. Frey, Rudolf Preisig – 1 April 1989 – Hepatic failure as a cause of death is increased in stable renal allograft recipients when compared with patients on dialysis. In order to assess the magnitude and the natural history of the hepatic functional derangement, the kinetics of xenobiotics which are metabolized by cytosolic (galactose) or microsomal (prednisolone, cyclosporine A) enzymes were determined in 28 consecutive stable kidney transplant patients 1 month and 1 year after transplantation.

A. Brian West – 1 April 1989

Valerie Keegan‐Rogers, George Y. Wu – 1 April 1989

Subramanian Ranganathan, Bruce A. Kottke – 1 April 1989 – The uptake and degradation of low‐density lipoproteins and the esterification and synthesis of cholesterol were poorly down‐regulated by low‐density lipoproteins in HepG2 cells. Addition of low‐density lipoproteins to the cells increased the free and esterified cholesterol in the cells. The heavier fraction of high‐density lipoproteins enhanced the degradation of low‐density lipoproteins and cholesterol synthesis and decreased acyl CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase activity.

Andrew Macfadyen, Kang‐Jey Ho – 1 April 1989 – This experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that orally administered D‐glucaro‐1,4‐lactone might be excreted in the bile and thus suppress the activity of biliary β‐glucuronidase, which is believed to play a key role in the development of pigment gallstones. D‐Glucaro‐1,4‐lactone, 50 to 2,600 μmoles, was fed to adult Sprague‐Dawley rats which had a bile fistula and were kept in metabolic cages for bile and urine collection. A total of 21 feeding experiments were carried out.

Sugantha Govindarajan – 1 April 1989

1 April 1989

Nimish Vakil, Ali Abu‐Alfa, Salim K. Mujais – 1 April 1989 – The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that the presence of a specific hepatobiliary disease, namely common bile duct obstruction, in the absence of other risk factors will exacerbate gentamicin nephrotoxicity. Furthermore, since bile duct ligation decreases urinary calcium excretion, we studied the role of calcium supplementation in the prevention of gentamicin nephrotoxicity in this model. Male Sprague‐Dawley rats were allocated to sham groups and common bile duct ligation groups.

J. Michael Henderson, Steven S. Scott, Alfred H. Merrill, Bettye Hollins, Michael H. Kutner – 1 April 1989 – This study evaluated the effect of daily oral pyridoxine supplementation in patients with cirrhosis. Eight subjects were treated with 25 mg of pyridoxine for 28 days. Before and after the supplementation period, B6 status was assessed by measuring fasting plasma vitamer levels and response to a 25 mg oral pyridoxine load. In addition, a 24‐hr urine collection was analyzed during each load study for B6 metabolites.

Kazuo Tarao, Hiroshi Hoshino, Ikuko Motohashi, Kazuto Iimori, Setsuo Tamai, Yoshihiko Ito, Seiichi Takagi, Yubo Oikawa, Shiro Unayama, Takuya Fujiwara, Kunio Odagiri, Toshio Ikeda, Kazuhiro Hayashi, Akira Sakurai, Toshiyuki Uchikoshi – 1 April 1989 – Alcoholic liver fibrosis is a relatively common form of alcoholic liver disease in Japan. It is regarded by some investigators as a prodromal stage of alcoholic liver cirrhosis, but little is known about the volumes of the liver and spleen in this disease state.