Antonio Martín Duce, Pablo Ortíz, Carmen Cabrero, José M. Mato – 1 January 1988 – We have measured the activity S‐adenosyl‐L‐methio‐nine synthetase in liver biopsies from a group of controls (n = 17) and in 26 cirrhotics (12 alcoholic and 14 posthepatitic). The activity of this enzyme was markedly reduced in the group of cirrhotics (285 ± 32 pmoles per min per mg protein) when compared with that observed in controls (505 ± 37 pmoles per min per mg protein). No differences in S‐adenosyl‐L‐methionine synthetase was observed between both groups of cirrhotics.

Kenji Abe, Takeshi Kurata, Toshio Shikata – 1 January 1988 – Localization of woodchuck hepatitis virus in liver tissue from 10 infected woodchucks was investigated immunohistochemically and ultrastructurally. Woodchuck hepatitis virus surface antigen was detected by immunoperoxidase methods in the cytoplasm of hepato‐cytes with a fine granular and/or inclusion body appearance. Woodchuck hepatitis virus surface antigen positive hepatocytes were often found in the peripheral zone of hepatic lobules.

Anders Nyberg, Anna Engström‐Làurent, Lars Lööf – 1 January 1988 – To evaluate serum hyaluronate as a marker for progressive liver injury in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, a longitudinal study including 48 patients was conducted with a mean follow‐up time of 40 months. The patients were examined every 6 months with a standardized set of conventional liver function tests, and a liver biopsy was performed every year.

D. R. Triger – 1 January 1988 – Immunoglobulin deposition in alcoholic and non‐alcoholic liver disease was studied using an indirect immunoperoxidase technique. A continuous pattern of IgA deposition, with IgA outlining the sinusoids, was shown to be a specific and sensitive marker for liver disease caused by alcohol in both cirrhotic and non‐cirrhotic livers. The sensitivity was lowest in cases of alcoholic disease showing fatty change alone.

Luc Bouwens, Eddie Wisse – 1 January 1988 – The numbers of Kupffer cells (macrophages) and pit cells (large granular lymphocytes) were counted by light and electron microscopy in perfusion‐fixed liver sinusoids. After a single intravenous injection of the biological response modifiers zymosan, Propionibacterium acnes and OK‐432, a 4‐ to 6‐fold increase in the number of pit cells and a 2‐ to 4‐fold increase in the number of Kupffer cells were observed within a period of 4 to 7 days.

Ala U. Toukan, Omayma A. Abu‐El‐Rub, Salwa A. Abu‐Laban, Musleh S. Tarawneh, M. Feisal Kamal, Stephen C. Hadler, Krzysztof Krawczynski, Harold S. Margolis, James E. Maynard – 1 November 1987 – The epidemiology and clinical outcome of hepatitis D viral infection in HBsAg‐positive acute hepatitis, chronic liver disease, primary hepatocellular carcinoma and the symptomless carrier state was studied in Jordan.

Stuart E. Lind, Daniel E. Singer, Klemens B. Meyer, Jerome P. Kassirer – 1 November 1987

Howard M. Shulman – 1 November 1987 – A 28‐yr‐old woman with severe idiopathic aplastic anemia received an HLA‐identical mixed lymphocyte culture nonreactive bone marrow transplant from her brother. In the months after successful engraftment, she developed cutaneous and hepatic graft‐versus‐host disease, associated with marked cholestatic jaundice. Despite a series of therapeutic maneuvers, cholestasis persisted but remained relative stable over the enuing 10 yr. However, serial liver biopsies revealed progressive biliary‐type firbrosis culminating in cirrhosis.

Alice Chow – 1 November 1987

Anne‐Marie Steffan, Jean‐Louis Gendrault, André Kirn – 1 November 1987 – Endothelial cells of the hepatic sinusoid isolated from mice livers and maintained in culture display typical fenestrae grouped in sieve plates. Treatment with cytochalasin B led to no significant change in the mean diameter of the fenestrae but to an increase in their number and in the porosity of the cells (percentage of the cellular surface opened by the fenestrae) which attained up to 300% of that of the controls.