A subacute rabbit model for hepatobiliary dysfunction during total parenteral nutrition.

Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) in children is associated with the complicating syndromes of cholestasis and cholelithiasis. The causes of these syndromes are not completely clear. Gastrointestinal hypomotility associated with enteral fasting may be involved in the pathogenesis of both syndromes.

Findings on endomyocardial biopsy in infants and children with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Fifteen infants and children with dilated cardiomyopathy underwent transvascular endomyocardial biopsy. The light and electron microscopic findings were reviewed to evaluate the presence of lymphocytes as an indicator of active myocarditis. Both ventricles were biopsied in 13 patients, and the right ventricle only was biopsied in 2.

Histiocytoid cardiomyopathy of infancy: deficiency of reducible cytochrome b in heart mitochondria.

A 3-week-old girl with failure to thrive and cardiomegaly died of cardiac arrest at age 4 weeks. Morphologic studies of the heart showed enlarged muscle fibers with large accumulations of mitochondria, characteristic of histiocytoid cardiomyopathy. Biochemical studies showed markedly decreased succinate-cytochrome c reductase and rotenone-sensitive NADH-cytochrome c reductase activities, while other mitochondrial enzymes were normal.