The autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction in primary biliary cirrhosis: Analysis of activation and blastogenesis of autoreactive T lymphocytes

Keith D. Lindor, Russell H. Wiesner, E. Rolland Dickson, Henry A. Homburger – 1 November 1988 – Blastogenesis of autoreactive T lymphocytes in the autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction has been shown to be decreased in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, but the mechanisms underlying this abnormality are not known.

The relationship between insulin sensitivity and skeletal muscle enzyme activities in hepatic cirrhosis

Yolanta Kruszynska, Nicholas Williams, Michael Perry, Philip Home – 1 November 1988 – We have examined the hypothesis that insulin insensitivity in hepatic cirrhosis is related to abnormalities of glycogen deposition and skeletal muscle enzyme activities. Otherwise well patients with biopsy‐proven hepatic cirrhosis secondary to previous excess alcohol intake were studied.

Do branched chain keto amino acids regulate their own metabolism?

Peter Schauder – 1 November 1988 – The effects of branched‐chain α‐ketoacids on flux through and activity state of the branched‐chain α‐ketoacid dehydrogenase complex were studied in hepatocytes prepared from chow‐fed, starved, and low‐protein‐diet‐fed rats. Very low concentrations of α‐ketoisocaproate caused a dramatic stimulation (50% activation at 20 μM) of α‐ketoisovalerate decarboxylation in hepatocytes from low‐protein‐fed rats. α‐Keto‐β‐methylvalerate was also effective, but less so than α‐ketoisocaproate.

Affinities and densities of high‐affinity [3H]muscimol (GABA‐A) binding sites and of central benzodiazepine receptors are unchanged in autopsied brain tissue from cirrhotic patients with hepatic encephalopathy

Roger F. Butterworth, Joël Lavoie, Jean‐François Giguère, Gilles Pomier‐Layrargues – 1 September 1988 – The integrity of GABA‐A receptors and of central benzodiazepine receptors was evaluated in membrane preparations from prefrontal cortex and caudate nuclei obtained at autopsy from nine cirrhotic patients who died in hepatic coma and an equal number of age‐matched control subjects. Histopathological studies revealed Alzheimer Type II astrocytosis in all cases in the cirrhotic group; controls were free from neurological, psychiatric or hepatic diseases.

Assessment of hepatic encephalopathy with visual evoked potentials compared with conventional methods

Neville L. Sandford, Ronald E. Saul – 1 September 1988 – Thirty‐six patients with advanced chronic liver disease of predominantly alcoholic etiology and with a documented history or current physical evidence of hepatic encephalopathy were studied and compared to 30 healthy controls. Assessment was made of their mental state, number connection test, venous blood ammonia, electroencephalography and visual evoked potentials with both pattern reversal and flash stimuli.

A rat strain that spontaneously develops severe hepatic necrosis and later hepatocellular carcinoma

Kunio Okuda – 1 September 1988 – A new mutant causing hereditary hepatitis associated with severe jaundice has been discovered in the LEC strain of rats. Hepatitis appears suddenly in adult rats three to four months after birth. The clinical signs of hepatitis are characterized by severe jaundice, subcutaneous bleeding, oliguria, and loss of body weight. The affected rats showed a high lethality and histological changes of the liver with focal necrosis of enlarged hepatocytes without inflammatory cell response.

Hepatitis D virus RNA in acute delta infection: Serological profile and correlation with other markers of hepatitis D virus infection

Maria Buti, Rafael Esteban, Michael Roggendorf, Juan Fernandez, Rosendo Jardi, Rudolf Rashofer, Helena Allende, Juan Genesca, Juan Ignacio Esteban, Jaime Guardia – 1 September 1988 – To evaluate the profile of hepatitis D virus replication and the corresponding immunoresponse after acute hepatitis D virus infection, sera from 50 patients with acute hepatitis D (36 with acute hepatitis B virus‐hepatitis D virus coinfection and 14 HBsAg carriers with hepatitis D virus superinfection) were investigated for the presence of hepatitis D virus RNA and other serological hepatitis D virus markers.

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