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Background and aims. Hepatic expression of several proteins, includng albumin, is reduced during ischaemia and restored upon reperfusion n human liver transplantation (LT) [J Pathol 2005;207:111–8]. Compleent activation during ischaemia reperfusion (IR) injury has been reported n renal, liver, intestine and heart allografts. A link between proteolysis nd complement activation has been demonstrated in myocardial IR damge [Proteomics 2002;2:988–95]. To better elucidate the mechanism and rognostic significance of complement activation in hepatic IR injury we easured early changes of liver graft C4d expression and total protein ontent (TP) during LT. Methods. Liver graft samples were obtained from heartbeating donors efore the aorta was clamped (T1) and 2 h after reperfusion in the recipint (T2) during primary whole organ LT. TP was measured by the Bio-Rad rotein assay method in freeze-dried liver homogenates from 47 grafts. In a ubgroup of 29 grafts C4d immunohistochemistry was performed on paraffin ections and positive hepatocytes were scored on a semiquantitative scale. he data were evaluated comparing grafts which were lost (LG) or survivng (SG) at 1-year follow-up. Intergroup differences were assessed by the ann–Whitney U-test. Correlations were analysed by the Spearman rank est. Results. LG (n= 10) had a significantly (p< 0.05) higher difference etween TP in T1 and in T2 ( TP) than SG (n= 37) (31.55± 31.51 vs. .41± 33.16 g/mg dry liver, respectively). C4d hepatocyte immunohistohemistry was negative in both LG and SG T1 samples. LG (n= 9) showed significantly (p< 0.05) higher T2 C4d hepatocyte score than SG (n= 20) 4.44± 1.67 vs. 2.55± 2.28 C4d, respectively). A positive correlation was ound between T2 C4d hepatocyte score and TP (r= 0.547, p< 0.01). Conclusions. Early complement activation and impaired restoring of raft protein content after reperfusion are linked events in hepatic ischaemia eperfusion injury and are associated with graft loss within the first year after uman LT.

23-Nor-deoxycholic acid is widely used as internal standard in gas-liquid chromatographic studies of bile acids. Two batches of this compound, submitted to conventional alkaline hydrolysis of bile acid conjugates, were found to be transformed into a product with chromatographic properties different from those of ''authentic'' 23-nor-deoxycholic acid. To identify this ''new'' product a comparison was made between chromatographic properties, mass spectra, and NMR spectra of 23-nor-deoxycholic acid before and after alkaline hydrolysis. The results indicate that the ''new'' compound is the true 23-nor-deoxycholic acid while the product present in the two batches examined is a monoacetate derivative.

In this presentation, we will limit our interest to the modifications in bile acids (BA) during the course of liver cirrhosis (LC), thus excluding the behaviour in cholestasis. There is little doubt, on the other hand, that LC is the typical model of parenchymal chronic liver disease. Moreover, hepatocellular disorders and cholestatic processes are often associated in LC and thus the major points of cholestasis will also be included.

Within a cross-sectional study on the epidemiology of gallstone disease (GD) and its related factors, relation of GD to habitual dietary fat types has been investigated. Gallbladder status was assessed by ultrasound; fatty acid composition of the habitual diet was estimated by GLC of erythrocyte fatty acids. No differences in erythrocyte fatty acid composition were observed between women without gallstones, women with gallstones (aware and unaware of their condition), and women who had cholecystectomies. Multivariate analysis, including other diet-dependent and gallstone-related variables, showed no significant association between erythrocyte fatty acids and risk for gallstones. However, raised erythrocyte linoleic:saturated ratio was associated with increased risk for gallstones only in women with very low serum triglycerides. This latter finding needs further confirmation and is presently unexplainable. Our results suggest that dietary fatty acids do not play a major role in GD.

This study has been aimed at improving some steps in the gas-liquid chromatographic determination of sulfated bile acids. The best conditions for the enzymatic hydrolysis with cholylglycine hydrolase of sulfolithocholylglycine and sulfolithocholyltaurine are described. Recoveries of more than 85% were obtained after prolonging the incubation to 12 h. A single-step procedure for solvolysis and methylation of bile acids was achieved by using, as a water scavenger, 2,2-dimethoxypropane added directly to the hydrolysis mixture. This procedure avoided the difficulty of the extraction of sulfated bile acids from aqueous solutions.