Cytophotometric studies of the DNA, nucleic acid and protein content of human liver cell nuclei.

Cytophotometry was performed on human liver cell nuclei obtained from liver biopsies in 18 patients with normal or practically normal liver histology as judged by light microscopy. Imprints of liver cells and liver cells or liver cell nuclei obtained by different isolation procedures were studied. The nuclear DNA, total nucleic acid and protein content was evaluated after Feulgen, gallocyanin and naphtol-yellow staining and by UV-spectrophotometry. The nuclear area was obtained during the cytophotometric scanning procedure (Zeiss UMSP I). A total of 2,330 nuclei were investigated and approximately 80 per cent of these were diploid. The diploid value was confirmed by UV-spectrophotometry where a total nucleic acid content of approximately 7 pg was found. The nuclei could be grouped in classes corresponding to di-, tetra- and octaploid nuclei, according to their contents of DNA, total nucleic acid and protein and according to their size. The variation in nuclear contents was lowest for DNA with a coefficient of variation of approximately five percent, and highest for the protein content (15 per cent). Within diploid nuclei, insignificant as well as significant correlations between DNA content and size were found, but taken all together a weak positive correlation is likely. Higher correlations were found between nuclear nucleic acid content and size and between nuclear protein content and nuclear size.

The nuclear dry weight of liver cells from patients with virus hepatitis and from controls.

Interferometric investigations were performed at liver cell nuclei isolated in 70 per cent glycerol. In 11 patients with virus hepatitis and seven patients without liver disease the nuclear dry weight of liver cells obtained by liver biopsy was determined by interferometry. The average nuclear dry weight of diploid liver cells from controls was 39.9 pg while an average value of 45.4 pg was found for patients with hepatitis. The corresponding nuclear volumes were 241 and 274mu3 respectively. The dry mass and volume of tetraploid nuclei was twice as big as that of diploid nuclei in both materials. The nuclear water content was neither significantly different between diploid and tetraploid nuclei nor significantly different between nuclei from controls and patients with hepatitis.

Cytophotometry of feulgen-naphtol yellow S stained liver cells--a computerized method for the calculation of nuclear protein.

A computerized method was developed to calculate the nuclear protein content of Feulgen-Naphtol Yellow S stained liver cells from cytophotometric data. After two consecutive scannings at 570 nm (DNA) and 435 nm (protein), the nuclear localization and shape are defined and nuclear protein is calculated by a method which corrects for the nuclear-cytoplasmic overlap at the nuclear periphery. The results obtained by the procedure are highly reproducible and are in accordance with the results of biochemical determinations of nuclear and total cell protein reported by others.

[Fulminant hepatic failure]. / Fulminant leversvigt.

Fulminant hepatic failure is a rare disorder with a high lethality. It is characterized by the development of acute hepatic symptoms and encephalopathy, in the absence of underlying chronic liver disease. The main causes are viruses, adverse drug effects and toxins. The major causes of death in patients with fulminant hepatic failure are cerebral edema, infections, gastrointestinal hemorrhage and renal failure, or a combination of these. Treatment of fulminant hepatic failure with a variety of medical therapies has hitherto been found to have little overall influence on outcome. With high volume plasmapheresis the clinical condition of the patients improves, and if there is no sign of spontaneous regeneration, emergency liver transplantation is the only solution.

[Fulminant liver failure before and after introduction of liver transplantation at Rikshospitalet]. / Fulminant leversvigt før og efter indførelse af levertransplantation på Rigshospitalet.

The impact of liver transplantation on the survival in fulminant hepatic failure was evaluated in a retrospective study including 87 patients admitted to Rigshospitalet over a three and a half year period before and a three and a half year period after the Danish liver transplantation programme was started. The number of admissions increased by 178% in the second period. Fifty-two percent of the patients had acetaminophen induced liver failure, which over the last seven years has become the most common cause of severe acute liver disease in Denmark. In about half of the patients high volume plasmapheresis was used as liver-assist either alone or in combination with liver transplantation. Three patients in grade 4 hepatic coma (one with Hepatitis B, two with acetaminophen intoxication) were withdrawn from the waiting list for emergency liver transplantation after high volume plasmapheresis due to recovery. In patients with an estimated survival chance of less than 5-10% liver transplantation was performed with a survival rate of 60%. The survival rate for the non-liver transplanted patients was 49% in the same period compared to 30% in the three and a half year period before liver transplantation started.