The effect of bile duct ligation on the quantitative and qualitative changes of bile acids in serum, liver, urine, and feces, and the concentration of cholesterol and phospholipids in serum and liver were examined in male rats. The concentration of bile acids in serum increased over 100-fold on day 5 but was lower than the 5-day level on days 10 and 15. The concentration in the liver also incre...

Decreased cardiac responsiveness to adrenergic stimulation has been observed in cholestatic liver disease, but the cause remains unclear. Previous reports have suggested that nitric oxide overproduction might have a role in cholestasis-induced bradycardia via inhibition of L-type calcium channels. In the present study, the digoxin has been used to increase cardiac Ca2+ transient in male Sprague...

Pien Tze Huang (PTH) is a mixture of several agents of traditional medicine prescribed over 600 years ago by a retired Court Physician, for conditions of liver diseases in southern China. For all these hundreds of years til the present day, PTH traditional medicine has been widely taken orally by the ethnic communities not only in China but also in the Southeast Asia as a hepatoprotective drug....

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), a potential chemotherapeutic agent for cancer, is not thought to be hepatotoxic. We have recently demonstrated, however, that bile acids increase TRAIL-R2/DR5 expression in a human liver cell line and render these cells susceptible to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis. These data suggest TRAIL may be hepatotoxic in cholestasis. The aim of ...

Studies have been made in the rat of the elimination of 210Pb in the bile after the intravenous injection of ioo ,ug. of lead. Four groups of rats were used: in two the bile was drained by cannulation of the bile duct, and in the other two the bile flow to the duodenum was interrupted by ligation or division of the bile duct. The radioactivity of the bile, of the intestinal walls, and of the in...

Because previous studies have suggested that red cell membrane sialic acid might be a determinant of survival in vivo, we examined the relationship between haemolysis, erythrocyte membrane sialic acid, and hepatic neuraminidase (sialidase) levels in experimental cholestatic jaundice in rats. Treatment of normal rat erythrocytes with neuraminidase in vitro resulted in a significant reduction in ...

BACKGROUND Cholecystectomy is made hazardous by distortion of the anatomy of Calot's triangle by acute or chronic inflammation. Laparoscopic subtotal cholecystectomy (LSTC) without cystic duct ligation is an alternative to conversion to open surgery in difficult cases. METHODS This prospective study included all cholecystectomies performed in a district general hospital upper gastrointestinal...

Background: Free radicals are involved in pathophysiology directly and indirectly in sepsis or endotoxemia. Obstructive jaundice may promote bacterial overgrowth with resultant endotoxemia or sepsis. The purposes of the studies are to test the protective effect of free radical scavenger in obstructive jaundice. Materials and methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to three groups. Gro...

Mongrel or beagle dogs were submitted to bile duct ligation, or to extraenteric biliary diversion by means of choledochoureterostomy. The kinetics of intravenously administered FK506 was not changed from control status two weeks after bile duct ligation, but the bioavailability of orally administered FK506 was nearly quadrupled. Following oral administration, the absorption of FK506 was highly ...

The role of reactive oxygen species in liver fibrogenesis is not yet clarified [11]. Huang et al. [13] showed a progressive increase in plasma malondialdehyde, hepatic 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine, hepatic mitochondrial respiratory functions and procollagen I and III or transforming growth factor1 mRNA expression in rats rendered cirrhotic by bile duct ligation. There is also a progressive impai...