Initial results of the oesophageal and gastric cancer registry from the Comunidad Valenciana.

Aims: To evaluate the initial results of the oesophagogastric cancer registry developed for the Sociedad Valenciana de Cirugía and the Health Department of the Comunidad Valenciana (Spain).

Methods: Fourteen of the 24 public hospitals belonging to the Comunidad Valenciana participated. All patients with diagnosis of oesophageal or gastric carcinomas operated from January 2013 to December 2014 were evaluated.

Acute biliary pancreatitis: does the pancreas change morphologically in the long term?

The objective of the study was to assess by means of magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography whether acute biliary pancreatitis leads to alterations in pancreatic morphology and the main pancreatic duct; to establish whether such alterations are related to the severity of the acute episode and if they are to be considered as sequelae of the illness or on the contrary the findings constitute diagnostic morphological criteria of chronic pancreatitis. Forty patients with acute biliary pancreatitis were prospectively and consecutively studied, 15 female (37.5%) and 25 male (62.

Pancreatic function after severe acute biliary pancreatitis: the role of necrosectomy.

Objectives: To investigate the recovery of pancreatic function after severe acute biliary pancreatitis (ABP), especially the influence of necrosectomy on endocrine and exocrine functions.

Methods: Prospective cohort study including 39 patients with severe ABP. According to need or no need for surgical necrosectomy, patients were further subdivided into 2 groups.

Main pancreatic duct: morphlogy after acute biliary pancreatitis with magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography after secretin stimulation.

Objective: to assess whether a magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography performed after an acute biliary pancreatitis leads to pancreatic morphological alterations and if secretin stimulation influences the visualization of the pancreatic tree.

Method: forty patients with acute biliary pancreatitis, 25 female (62,5/) and 15 male (37,5/), 27 mild and 13 severe, were prospectively and consecutively studied. All patients had undergone cholecystectomy.

Exocrine pancreatic changes following acute attack of biliary pancreatitis.

Following the Cambridge and Marseilles Symposia, functional recovery of the pancreas occurs if the primary cause and complications of the disease have been eliminated. However, recent research showed contradictory results, owing to the difference in diagnostic methods and the proportion of patients studied in relation to the etiologic factor and severity of the disease, as well as the differences in the tests utilized. Sixty-three consecutive patients with acute biliary pancreatitis were prospectively studied.

Drug biotransformation by human hepatocytes. In vitro/in vivo metabolism by cells from the same donor.

Background/aims: Cultured human hepatocytes are considered a close model to human liver. However, the fact that hepatocytes are placed in a microenvironment that differs from that of the cell in the liver raises the question: to what extent does drug metabolism in vitro reflect that of the liver in vivo? This issue was examined by investigating the in vitro and in vivo metabolism of aceclofenac, an analgesic/anti-inflammatory drug.

Methods: Hepatocytes isolated from programmed liver biopsies were incubated with aceclofenac, and the metabolites formed were investigated by HPLC.

Oncostatin M down-regulates basal and induced cytochromes P450 in human hepatocytes.

The effects of oncostatin M on the expression of different cytochrome P450 (CYP) isozymes has been investigated in human hepatocytes. The dose-response and time-course analyses of effects on CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 isozymes revealed that maximal inhibition was reached after 48 hr of exposure of human hepatocytes to 25 units/ml oncostatin M. Reductions in CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 activity produced by oncostatin M correlated with decreases in protein content, de novo protein synthesis and specific mRNA levels, thus suggesting that oncostatin M could down-regulate CYP expression at the transcriptional level.

Genetic alterations and oxidative metabolism in sporadic colorectal tumors from a Spanish community.

Deletions of loci on chromosomes 5q, 17p, 18q, and 22q, together with the incidence of p53 mutations and amplification of the double minute-2 gene were investigated in the sporadic colorectal tumors of 44 patients from a Spanish community. Chromosome deletions were analyzed by means of loss of heterozygosity analysis using a restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Allelic losses were also detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-single-stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis of a polymorphic site in intron 2 of the p53 gene.

Cell cycle progression proteins (cyclins), oncogene expression, and signal transduction during the proliferative response of human hepatocytes to hepatocyte growth factor.

Human hepatocytes stimulated with human recombinant hepatocyte growth factor (h-rHGF) (10 ng/mL) displayed a characteristic lag period before entering into the S phase. The duration of this delay was dependent on the timing of h-rHGF addition to cultures. The highest peak of DNA synthesis was observed at 120 hours of culture when hepatocytes were stimulated with h-rHGF at 72 hours of culture.

Effects of hepatocyte growth factor on the growth and metabolism of human hepatocytes in primary culture.

The effect of recombinant human hepatocyte growth factor (h-rHGF), a potent mitogen for hepatocytes, was investigated in primary cultures of human hepatocytes. Here, we describe a series of experiments to investigate the kinetics of its mitogenic action, as well as its metabolic effects on cultured human hepatocytes. The h-rHGF is a potent signal for initiating DNA synthesis in human hepatocytes, with maximal stimulatory effects at 10 ng/mL (0.

The effects of buprenorphine on the metabolism of human hepatocytes.

Adult human hepatocytes cultured in chemically defined conditions were used as a biological model to examine the metabolic effects of buprenorphine on the human liver. Cell extension and monolayer formation of human hepatocytes were affected in a dose-dependent manner after 24 hr of exposure to the drug. According to the several endpoints evaluated (cellular protein, intracellular lactate dehydrogenase activity and the MTT test), the half-maximal cytotoxic effect (IC(50)) of buprenorphine was close to 100 mum.

Intracellular glutathione in human hepatocytes incubated with S-adenosyl-L-methionine and GSH-depleting drugs.

The present study was undertaken to investigate (a) whether S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe) added to culture medium can increase intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels in human hepatocytes and (b) whether SAMe can prevent the GSH depletion found in human hepatocytes incubated with GSH-depleting drugs (paracetamol, opiates, ethanol). Incubation of hepatocytes with increasing concentrations of SAMe resulted in a dose-dependent elevation of intracellular GSH content, which reached its maximum (35% increase) at 30 microM after 20 h. SAMe, as the only sulfur source in the medium, was efficient in repleting GSH-depleted hepatocytes following treatment with diethyl maleate.

Acute-phase response of human hepatocytes: regulation of acute-phase protein synthesis by interleukin-6.

Human hepatocytes in primary culture were used as a model system to investigate the mechanism(s) involved in the induction of the acute-phase response in human liver. Hepatocytes were incubated with increasing amounts of recombinant human interleukin-1 beta, recombinant interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Synthesis of C-reactive protein was studied at the mRNA and protein levels.

Culture of human hepatocytes from small surgical liver biopsies. Biochemical characterization and comparison with in vivo.

High yields of human hepatocytes (up to 23 X 10(6) viable cells/g) were obtained from small surgical liver biopsies (1 to 3 g) by a two-step collagenase microperfusion method. Cell viability was about 95%, attachment efficiency of hepatocytes seeded on fibronectin-coated plates was 80% within 1 h after plating, and cells survived for about 2 wk in serum-free Ham's F12 containing 0.2% bovine serum albumin, 10(-8) M insulin, and 10(-8) M dexamethasone.

Interleukin-6 is the major regulator of acute phase protein synthesis in adult human hepatocytes.

The three monokines interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) modulate acute phase plasma protein synthesis in adult human hepatocytes. Only IL-6 stimulates the synthesis of the full spectrum of acute phase proteins as seen in inflammatory states in humans, i.e.

Hepatotoxicity of the opioids morphine, heroin, meperidine, and methadone to cultured human hepatocytes.

Adult human hepatocytes in chemically defined culture conditions were incubated with morphine, heroin, meperidine, and methadone to investigate their potential hepatotoxicity to human liver. Cytotoxic effects were observed at about 100 times the plasma concentrations required to produce analgesia in human nonaddicts. Concentrations of 1 mM morphine, heroin, and meperidine reduced the glycogen content by 50%, while even 0.

Toxicity of paracetamol in human hepatocytes. Comparison of the protective effects of sulfhydryl compounds acting as glutathione precursors.

The hepatotoxicity of N-acetyl-p-aminophenol (acetaminophen, paracetamol) was investigated in hepatocyte cultures obtained from eight different human liver biopsies. Incubation of hepatocytes with paracetamol resulted in a dose- and time-dependent glutathione depletion. Glutathione decreased linearly for 8 h, reaching a minimum after 12 h of exposure.