Kouji Tada

Inhibitory activity of the serum from patients with fulminant hepatitis against liver regeneration

SummaryThe effect of sera from 8 patients with fulminant hepatitis, including 2 survival cases, on DNA and protein synthesis in primary cultured rat hepatocytes was studied. The serum from patients at an early stage or within 10 days after onset tended to intensify DNA synthesis in isolated hepatocytes, whereas the serum from patients with a history of over 50 days distinctly inhibited synthesis. When the serum was fractionated by gel filtration or free-flow electrophoresis, only the albumin fraction inhibited DNA synthesis in cultured hepatocytes. The suppressive effect of the albumin fraction was demonstrated even in patients suffering for only a short period of time. The inhibitory activity against DNA and protein synthesis in cultured hepatocytes was demonstrated in a substance extracted with a chloroform and methanol mixture from the albumin fraction of patients with fulminant hepatitis. The extract from the patients’ sera also inhibited acceleration of DNA synthesis by epidermal growth factor (EGF) in the same cells.

A Separable Representation of the NN One-Boson-Exchange Potential and the Effect of the 1S0 Potential on the JP = 0− πNN System near Pion Threshold

A separable representation with respect to the initial and final momentum variables is made for the NN one-boson-exchange potential (OBEP) due to Ueda, Riewe and Green in the method of Ernst, Shakin and Thaler. The representation is made for potentials with total angular momentum f :::;;3 in the 0-300 MeV energy range of the incident laboratory proton. In rank two or three form, the OBEP is satisfactorily represented. The representation is very useful for problems of three-body systems involving two nucleons. An application is made to the r=o- ;rNN system in the three-body calculation. The effect of the separable t So potential is investigated in the 3 Po NN ... NN amplitude in this system. A remarkable threshold effect is found in the absorption parameter of the amplitude.

The πNN Dynamics on NN — NN , pp — πd, πd — πd , and pp — πNN below 1 GeV

NN — NN, pp — πd, πd — πd, and pp — πNN processes at incident proton laboratory energies T L ≤ 1 GeV are studied in a unified and unitary framework of the πNN dynamics. The three-body calculation is made with the πN interactions in the P 11, P 33, S 11 and S 31 states and the NN interactions in the 3 S 1 — 3 D 1, 1 S 0, and 3 P 2 states. Additionally, (A) the backward going pion contribution at πNΔ vertex, (B) the πN — ρN coupling in the P 33 state, (C) the heavy meson exchange in NN → NN driving term, and (D) the effect of the off-shell structure in πN — ρNP 33 interaction are taken into account.

Effect of dobutamine on serum bile acid levels in patients with cirrhosis

Abstract To investigate whether improving hepatic blood flow is effective as a treatment for cirrhosis we measured cardiac output and hepatic blood flow in eight patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (5 women and 3 men, aged 51 to 64 years) who were given dobutamine intravenously through a peripheral vein. The relationship between changes in hepatic blood flow and changes in total bile acid concentration in the peripheral blood were assessed. Hepatic blood flow was measured by using the xenon 133 gas clearance method with a catheter positioned in the portal vein. Dobutamine infusion increased cardiac output and hepatic blood flow to 133.9% and 111.4% of preinfusion values, respectively, and decreased total serum bile acid concentration 120 minutes after the start of infusion to 59.0% of the pretreatment value. The bile acids, in descending order of the highest percent decrease, were ursodeoxycholic, cholic, deoxycholic, chenodeoxycholic, and lithocholic; however, there were no significant differences between the free, glycine-conjugated, and taurine-conjugated forms. The percent decrease in total serum bile acids was significantly correlated with the percent increase in hepatic blood flow. These findings suggest that increasing blood flow could be an effective way to decrease total serum bile acid levels and thus possibly promote liver function in patients with cirrhosis