In the invertebrate liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, there is evidence that 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) increases glycolysis (1, 2), glycogenolysis (1), and phosphorylase activity (3). However, previous studies in mammalian liver, in vitro and in vivo, have yielded conflicting results concerning the effect of serotonin on hepatic glycogen content, hepatic phosphorylase, and blood glucose. So...

Alcoholic liver disease has been associated with abnormalities in receptor-mediated endocytosis (RME) which results in abnormal degradation of metabolically altered proteins. Model systems using formaldehyde-modified albumin (f-Alb) have shown an impairment in RME following chronic alcohol consumption utilizing both in situ perfused rat livers and isolated rat liver endothelial cells (LECs). Th...

In perfused rat liver, there is phloretin-inhibitable urea efflux, but whether it is mediated by the kidney UT-A urea transporter family is unknown. To determine whether cultured HepG2 cells transport urea, thiourea influx was measured. HepG2 cells had a thiourea influx rate of 1739 +/- 156 nmol/g protein per min; influx was inhibited 46% by phloretin and 32% by thionicotinamide. Western analys...

Cholestasis is accompanied by the appearance of lipoprotein-X (LP-X) in plasma. This lipoprotein has a high content of unesterified cholesterol and phospholipids and appears to be ineffective in suppressing the enhanced hepatic cholesterogenesis of cholestasis. Its role as a possible causative factor for cholestatic hypercholesterolemia was investigated. When 125I-LP-X was injected into rats, i...