[Basic mechanisms of hepatocellular injury. Role of inflammatory lipid mediators].

The presence of a lesion in the cellular parenchyma is common to a large number of chronic liver diseases, such as viral hepatitides, alcoholic hepatitis, chronic cholestasis and steatohepatitis. Although the pathogenesis may vary according to the etiological agent, a series of mechanisms is common to all. Notable among these mechanisms are Kupffer cell activation and inflammatory cell recruitment, free oxygen radical formation and the development of oxidative stress, cytokine production, mainly TNFa and TGFb, and inflammatory mediator release due to arachidonic acid oxidation through the COX-2 and 5-LO pathways.