Esteban Mezey – 1 June 1989 – The baboon is the only animal in which alcoholic fibrosis and cirrhosis of the liver has been produced with a nutritionally adequate diet. Zinc deficiency is associated with alcoholic liver disease and may contribute to liver damage. We have therefore investigated whether zinc supplementation would reduce liver damage in ten baboons receiving ethanol and an adequate diet. Eight received ethanol at up to 25 g/kg/day (70% of calories) for up to 60 months (four were supplemented with 50 mg zinc/day).

Jeffrey I. Cohen – 1 June 1989

Jürgen Pauletzki, Frans Stellaard, Gustav Paumgartner – 1 June 1989 – Decreased levels of serum cholesterol are a well‐recognized finding in hyperthyroidism. Since the conversion to bile acids is an important pathway for the elimination of cholesterol, we studied primary bile acid kinetics in seven hyperthyroid patients before and after medical treatment. Pool sizes, fractional turnover and synthesis rates of cholic acid and chenodeoxycholic acid were determined after oral administration of 50 mg [13C]cholic acid and 50 mg [13C]chenodeoxycholic acid.

Alastair D. Burt, Dina Tiniakos, Roderick N. M. MacSween, Maureen R. Griffiths, Eddie Wisse, Julia M. Polak – 1 June 1989 – The distribution of adrenergic nerves in guinea pig and rat liver was studied by the immunolocalization of fibers containing tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine β‐hydroxylase, enzymes involved in the synthesis of catecholamines. In both species, adrenergic fibers were identified within portal tracts, often in close proximity hepatic artery branches.

Andres T. Blei – 1 June 1989

Philippe Marteau, François Ballet, Olivier Chazouillères, Yves Chrétien, Colette Rey, Danielle Petit, Raoul Poupon – 1 June 1989 – We studied the effects of a series of vasodilators on intrahepatic vascular resistance of isolated perfused cirrhotic rat livers in basal conditions and during norepinephrine‐induced vasoconstriction. Cirrhosis was induced by repeated intraperitoneal injections of carbon tetrachloride.

Graham F. Barnard, Sandra K. Erickson, Yasuo Nagata, Allen D. Cooper – 1 May 1989 – The suppression of cholesterol synthesis by dietary cholesterol which occurs in the livers of normal animals is absent in hepatomas. This abnormality has been reported to occur in the livers of animals fed hepatocarcinogens, even before there is any histologic evidence of malignancy (premalignant liver).

Swan N. Thung, De‐Fa Wang, Thomas M. Fasy, Andrew Hood, Michael A. Gerber – 1 May 1989 – It has been postulated that polymerized human serum albumin may play a role in the infection of hepatocytes by hepatitis B virus, because both the envelope of hepatitis B virus (HBsAg) and hepatocytes exhibit binding activity for human serum albumin after cross‐linking by glutaraldehyde.

Michiko Shindo, Tadao Okuno, Ken Arai, Masayuki Matsumoto, Makoto Takeda, Tatsuro Takino, Yoshihiro Sokawa – 1 May 1989 – We measured 2′,5′‐oligoadenylate synthetase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and serum of 14 HBsAg‐ and HBeAg‐positive patients with chronic hepatitis B with or without acute exacerbation.

John C. Marsh – 1 May 1989 – A fatal massive hepatic necrosis with widespread thrombotic occlusion of the small hepatic veins developed in two of 68 patients treated with DTIC for advanced melanoma in a randomized study. Thirteen similar reactions, in patients treated with single‐agent DTIC, are reported in the literature. Several clinical and pathologic features distinguish this DTIC toxicity from Budd‐Chiari syndrome and veno‐occlusive disease (both well‐known types of possibly drug‐related hepatic vascular disease) and make it a distinctive syndrome.