YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE TOXLINE (1981 FORWARD, NON-ROYALTY) FILE. ==FATTY LIVER== 18 AUTHOR Barisione G AUTHOR Fontana L AUTHOR Cottalasso D AUTHOR Domenicotti C AUTHOR Pronzato MA AUTHOR Nanni G TITLE [Changes in lipoglycoprotein metabolism in toxic fatty liver] SOURCE Minerva Gastroenterol Dietol; VOL 39, ISS 3, 1993, P101-12 (REF: 61) ABSTRACT BACKGROUND. A number of agents that produce liver injury also cause the accumulation of an abnormal amount of fat, predominantly triglycerides (TGs) in the parenchymal cells. Fatty liver (FL) is the result of an hepatocyte imbalance between the rate of synthesis and output of TGs into the plasma. TGs are not secreted as such, but combined with a glycoprotein moiety, and particularly with the very low density lipoproteins (VLDLs). This fraction is involved in the transport of hepatic TGs to extrahepatic tissues. FL can be induced by either acute or chronic administration of ethanol (EtOH), and/or several haloalkanes (carbon tetrachloride, CCl4; 1.2-dichloroethane, DCE; 1.1.2.2-tetrachloroethane, TTCE), both in laboratory animals and in man. Since the pathogenesis of this disease is a crucial problem, as yet undefined, the purpose of this article is to summarize the studies which have unraveled some of the mechanisms involved in FL, particularly the role played by impaired lipoglycoproteins (LGP) metabolism in rat liver. 25 AUTHOR Clain DJ AUTHOR Lefkowitch JH TITLE Fatty liver disease in morbid obesity. SOURCE Gastroenterol Clin North Am; VOL 16, ISS 2, 1987, P239-52 (REF: 41) ABSTRACT About 90 per cent of morbidly obese patients show histological abnormalities of the liver. One third of patients have fatty change involving more than 50 per cent of hepatocytes. Fatty liver disease can be divided into four histological groups: Fatty liver, fatty hepatitis, fatty liver with portal fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Most patients show only fatty change. Alcohol, drugs, diabetes, poor nutrition, and weight-reducing surgery contribute to progressive liver damage, but morbid obesity alone may lead to severe disease showing all the features of alcoholic hepatitis and may end in cirrhosis and liver failure. The accumulation of fat alone is unlikely to be the stimulus to inflammation and fibrosis. Only one fifth of patients have complaints that arise from the liver. The development of severe fatty liver disease may also be asymptomatic and rarely shows the florid picture associated with alcoholic hepatitis. There is poor correlation of liver function test results with morphology in obesity. ALT levels exceeding twice the normal limit have some predictive value for histological grades of severity, but they are present in few patients. Pericentral and pericellular fibrosis in prebypass liver biopsies may be an important prognostic lesion for the development of fatty hepatitis and cirrhosis. In contrast with the frequent progression to massive fatty change, inflammation and fibrosis after bypass surgery, weight loss by low-calorie dieting, or starvation is accompanied by improvement in fatty change and return of liver function tests to normal. 5 AUTHOR Dentico P AUTHOR Volpe A AUTHOR Buongiorno R AUTHOR Grattagliano I AUTHOR Altomare E AUTHOR Tantimonaco G AUTHOR Scotto G AUTHOR Sacco R AUTHOR Schiraldi O TITLE [Glutathione in the treatment of chronic fatty liver diseases] SOURCE Recenti Prog Med; VOL 86, ISS 7-8, 1995, P290-3 ABSTRACT In chronic steatosic liver disease, alcohol or non-alcohol related or HBV, HCV, HDV associated, a reduction in hepatic glutathione and, consequently, in the detoxifying effects of hepatocytes is observed. Intravenous administration of high dose glutathione in patients with chronic steatosic liver disease has shown that glutathione significantly improves the rate of some hepatic tests (bilirubin, GOT, GPT, GT) even several months after treatment interruption. Further confirmation of the efficacy of GSH treatment is provided by the reduction of malondialdehyde, a marker of hepatic cell damage. The optimal results obtained in patients receiving 1800 mg/die/i.v. advocate the use of this high dosage.