Overview on the mechanisms of drug-induced liver cell death.

Drug-induced hepatotoxicity is a significant and still unresolved clinical problem. The limitation in current knowledge regarding mechanisms of hepatic toxicity renders most of the preclinical review process failing and most of drug-induced hepatic injury remains unpredictable. Current knowledge on the mechanisms of drug-induced liver cell death is reviewed here. The intervention of both intra- and extracellular factors in determining the appearance of drug-induced cell apoptosis or necrosis is also discussed. Finally, the role of both mitochondria and non parenchymal cells are reviewed with respect to approaches useful to manage drug-induced liver injury.

From lipid secretion to cholesterol crystallization in bile. Relevance in cholesterol gallstone disease.

Failure of cholesterol homeostasis in the body can lead to cholesterol gallstone disease, the most common and costly gastrointestinal disease. The primum movens in cholesterol gallstone formation is the hypersecretion of hepatic cholesterol; this condition leads to bile chronically supersaturated with cholesterol which is prone to rapid precipitation as cholesterol crystals in the gallbladder. Essential topics reviewed here deal with pathways of biliary lipid secretion, cholesterol solubilization and crystallization in bile, according to recent advances. Main in vivo events in cholesterol gallstone disease are also described.