摘要:

ABSTRACT—Rats of 230 g were treated with 0.1 mg of dexamethasone twice daily for 2 days (n = 5) and 14 days (n = 9). Controls received isotonic saline. During the first week of dexamethasone treatment the rats lost weight rapidly (up to 9 g/day). The weight loss diminished during the second week of treatment. The fasting blood insulin concentration increased sevenfold in the dexamethasone‐treated rats. Fasting blood glucagon and glucose concentrations were not different from controls. In the dexamethasone‐treated rats the fasting alpha‐amino‐N concentrations were lower: 4.0±0.3 mmol/l (mean ± SEM) versus 6.8±0.3 mmol/1 in controls. The capacity of Urea‐N Synthesis, determined during alanine loading was: after 2 days of treatment 14.7±1.7 μmol/(min 100 g), after 14 days of treatment 7.9±0.8 μmol/(min 100 g), and in controls 7.5±1.0 μmol/(min 100 g) (mean±SEM). In conclusion, glucocorticoid treatment leads to a transient change in the liver function as to hepatic amino‐N conversion, implying that more amino‐N than normal is eliminated as urea‐N after 2 days of treatment. This may contribute to the early, but no

ISSN:0106-9543    

DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0676.1988.tb00992.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACT—The status of cellular cytotoxic activity in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) patients was compared to that in normal individuals by testing the cytotoxicity against K562 and five established HCC cell line targets. Natural killer (NK) activity of fresh peripheral blood mononuclear (PBM) cells in HCC patients to K562 cell line target was lower than that in normal donors. NK activity of unstimulated PBM cells from either source was minute against all five HCC cell line targets. Three different activation systems were employed to examine the cellular cytotoxicity of activated PBM cells: (1) conventional mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC), (2) allogeneic mixed lymphocyte tumor culture (MLTC), and (3) lymphokine‐activated killer (LAK) cell culture. The cytotoxic effects of PBM cells in all three activation conditions were significantly lower in HCC patients than in normal donors (P<0.05 to P<0.01). These results suggest that, in addition to naturally present NK cells, the degree ofin vitroactivation of PBM cells may also have decreased in HCC patie

ISSN:0106-9543    

DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0676.1988.tb00993.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACT—To elucidate the role of oncogene expression in hepatocarcinogenesis, we examined the expression of 8 cellular oncogenes by dot blot and/or northern blot analysis in neoplastic, cirrhotic and non‐cirrhotic human liver tissues obtained at surgery. Significantly higher levels of c‐myc gene expression were observed in tissues of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and adjacent cirrhotic tissues than in apparently normal liver tissues or those of chronic hepatitis (normal‐chronic hepatitis). There was a tendency to higher c‐myc mRNA levels in HCC than in liver cirrhosis. However, when tumorous and adjacent cirrhotic tissues from the same patient were compared, c‐myc mRNA levels were not consistently higher in HCC. No significant differences in mRNA levels of c‐fos, N‐myc, N‐ras, Ha‐ras, c‐erbA, c‐erbB and c‐abl were observed among the HCC, cirrhosis and normal‐chronic hepatitis groups. Although the significance of increased c‐myc gene expression in liver cirrhosis and HCC is still not known, it is conceivable that the persistent elevation of c‐myc gene expression in cirrhosis contri

ISSN:0106-9543    

DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0676.1988.tb00994.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACT—In previous studies we have shown that hepatocytes stream from the portal tract toward the terminal hepatic vein. The present study provides evidence that littoral cells participate in the same cell stream and that the liver actually streams en masse. Littoral cells stand for sinusoidal endothelia and Kupffer cells. Thirty male adult rats, random bred, were injected with 0.5 μCi [3H]‐thymidine, specific activity 5 Ci/mmol/g body weight. The rats were killed in groups of five, at the following times: 1 h, 14, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days. The livers were processed histologically and dipped into liquid emulsion for autoradiography. In each animal 50 labelled hepatocytes and 50 littoral cells were randomly selected and their distance from the nearest terminal portal tract rim was measured. Both cell populations renew their cells continuously. Each consists of two cell types, progenitors, residing around the portal tract up to the distance of 200 μm. and functional cells, which inhabit the rest of the acinus. The two regions where the different cell types reside are known respectively as progenitor (P) and functional (Q) compartments. Both cells are formed in the P‐compartment and advance jointly along a trajectory, the tissue radius, toward the terminal hepatic vein where they die. They progress at a daily velocity of 2 μm. Since both advance at the same speed, as long as they exist they remain neighbours. Liver parenchyma and stroma thus stream en masse. It is proposed that hepatocytes and littoral cells are displaced as tissue quanta, or proliferons, which are assembled in the progenitor region near the portal tract, and gradually traverse the three acinus zones, changing their metabolic tasks as they go, until at the terminal hepatic vein they disintegrate, probably by a

ISSN:0106-9543    

DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0676.1988.tb00995.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACT—Seventy‐three euthyroid male patients with alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver were randomly allocated to oral testosterone (200 mg t.i.d.) or placebo and followed for up to 36 months. Triiodothyronine (T3), tetraiodothyronine (T4), thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) and T4/TBG ratio were determined before entry and during follow‐up. No significant differences were observed before entry or during follow‐up between the two treatment groups. T3, T4 and T4/TBG ratio did not change significantly during follow‐up, while TBG concentrations decreased (P<0.05). Using a multivariate test, it is demonstrated that testosterone treatment significantly reduced TBG concentrations in cirrhotic men with preserved liver function, like normal men, but not in patients with moderate liver dysfunction. The lack of effect of testosterone in patients with more advanced cirrhosis may be due to a decreased function of sex hormone receptors in th

ISSN:0106-9543    

DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0676.1988.tb00996.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACT—If the gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) inhibitory neurotransmitter system plays an important role in the mediation of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in man, changes in the status of receptors for GABA in the brain may occur in patients with HE. To test this possibility, brains were obtained at autopsy from 11 patients who had died of causes unrelated to liver disease and from 11 patients who had died with chronic liver disease. Eight of the liver disease group had overt HE at the time of death. The specific binding of GABA to synaptic membranes isolated from frontal cortex was determined. Mean specific binding of GABA for patients with cirrhosis without overt HE was similar to that for control patients. In contrast, corresponding means for patients who had mild HE (stages I–III) and for patients who had severe HE (stage IV) were 45% higher (p<0.05) and 43% lower, respectively, than that for control patients. The mean specific binding of GABA was significantly greater for patients with mild HE than in patients with severe HE (p<0.025). Scatchard plots of the GABA binding data were curvilinear and consistent with a model of GABA receptors with two independent binding sites. Computer‐assisted analysis of the binding data indicated that the altered GABA binding observed in patients with HE is attributable to changes in the affinity rather than the density of both GABA receptors (increased affinities in mild HE, and decreased affinities in hepatic coma). These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that alterations in GABAergic neurotransmission are associated with and contribute to the syndrome of HE

ISSN:0106-9543    

DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0676.1988.tb00997.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACT—To examine the relationship between changes of serum hepatitis B virus‐dexoyribonucleic acid (HBV‐DNA) and transaminase levels during acute exacerbation of chronic type B hepatitis, serial serum specimens from 74 patients were assayed for HBV‐DNA by slot blot hybridization with32P‐labeled cloned HBV‐DNA as probe. Of these patients, serial serum specimens were obtained with an interval of 2–7 days in 22 patients (Group I), 8–14 days in 30 patients (Group II) and 15–30 days in 22 patients (Group III). The peak of serum HBV‐DNA was reached shortly before or simultaneously with the maximum elevation of serum alanine transaminase (ALT) in most (>90%) of the acute exacerbations. In contrast, the peak of serum ALT was reached before maximum elevation of serum HBV‐DNA in only 13.6% of Group I, 3.3% of Group II and 13.6% of Group III (9.5% of whole series). The results suggest that the increase of serum HBV‐DNA is an event preceding, rather than the result of, hepatocytolysis in most of the acute exacerbations occurring in patients with c

ISSN:0106-9543    

DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0676.1988.tb00998.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACT—One hundred and twenty HBsAg positive patients with chronic liver disease, 94 with CAH and 26 with CPH, were studied in order to characterize chronic HBsAg positive hepatitis virologically. All patients came from a geographical area (Campania, Italy) with a high prevalence of HBV and HDV infection. Each patient was tested for the presence of HBsAg, HBeAg, anti‐HBe and anti‐delta in serum (by RIA techniques), and of HDV (by direct immunofluorescence) and HBcAg (by indirect immunofluorescence and PAP‐immunoperoxidase) in liver biopsy specimens. Anti‐delta serum positivity was remarkably more frequent in patients with CAH (40%) than in those with CPH (19%). Delta‐Ag was found in 94.7% of the anti‐delta positive patients with CAH, but in none of the five anti‐delta positive patients with CPH. In contrast, the frequency of HBcAg tissue positivity was similar in CAH and CPH. Positivity for HBcAg was less frequent in CAH with cirrhosis than in CAH without cirrhosis, while there was no difference in the prevale

ISSN:0106-9543    

DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0676.1988.tb00999.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACT—The effects of a variable daily administration of caffeine on fasting levels of caffeine in plasma and in saliva were measured in 24 patients with liver disease and hepatocellular dysfunction of variable degree. For 2 consecutive days the patients received either 250 mg of caffeine (in 2 separate doses of 125 mg each at 8:00 a.m. and at 6:00 p.m.) or a single dose of 125 mg at 6:00 p.m. Caffeine clearance was also measured and the results were correlated with the galactose elimination capacity and with antipyrine clearance. At the beginning of the study, fasting caffeine concentrations were largely variable, without any relation to liver function. A strict negative correlation between fasting caffeine and caffeine clearance was only observed after 2 days of controlled caffeine administration (rs= ‐0.814). Under these conditions, fasting caffeine also correlated with antipyrine clearance (rs= ‐0.671, n = 20) and with galactose elimination (rs= ‐0.565). Our data prove that fasting caffeine concentrations after an evening dose may be used as an index of liver function only in subjects under a strictly controlled dietary caffeine intake. The large availability of caffeine in the diet makes the compound scarcely reliable for a correct measurement of liver function based on a single sample, and correct clearance determination is

ISSN:0106-9543    

DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0676.1988.tb01000.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACT—Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was detected byin situhybridization in 53 out of 74 liver specimens from patients with chronic HBV infection. The distribution of HBV DNA was classified into three patterns: diffuse (HBV DNA distributed diffusely, within the section of specimen), lobular (HBV DNA was present in 1/3–2/3 of the section) and spotty. All three specimens from asymptomatic HBV carriers showed the diffuse pattern. In the advanced stage of liver disease (chronic active hepatitis with severe activity and liver cirrhosis), a decreased number of specimens showed the diffuse pattern, whereas the number of specimens with the lobular pattern increased. From these data, we conclude that HBV may replicate diffusely in the liver in the early stage of chronic liver disease, and the site of HBV replication becomes localized in the advanced stage of the disease. The main target cells of immunocytes may be hepatocytes undergoing HBV replication, because HVB DNA was frequently detected in areas of focal, piecemeal and bridging hepatic necro

ISSN:0106-9543    

DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0676.1988.tb01001.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY