Allogenic hepatocyte transplantation inimmunomodulated lewis rats with acute liver insufficiency following hepatectomy

Orthotropic Liver transplantation [OLT] is a conventional management for end-stage acute or chronic liver insufficiency, but the shortage of donor organs continues to be the restrictive factor throughout the world. Hepatocyte transplantation [HCTx] might be the promising treatment for several liver diseases and can be used as a [bridge] to OLT. Hepatocytes transplantation can protect and even save human lives, its' applicability remains limited by the large deficiency of liver organs and hepatocytes [HC], and cellular loss after engraftment. Host elimination of grafted cells is called Early Graft Dysfunction. This study was developed for an efficient protocol of HCT. Several conditions have been met in order to achieve a high yield of harvested viable HC, overcome the detached-cell apoptosis, attenuation of innate immune reaction against transplanted cells and a receptive cell environment. HC were isolated from Lewis rats [n=8] weighing 250gm, by the 2 step collagen a seper fusion technique, and bone marrow cells [BMCs] were obtained from the rats tibia and femur by centrifugation in a buffer solution. The mean viability of harvested HC and BMCs were 90% and 95% respectively. To minimize the rejection of HC, Lewis rat recipients [n=14] weighing 250gm, were ir- -radiated with 6 Gy and received 0.1 mg of anti-aisle GM1 antiserum intravenously as im-munosuppressive drug. The isolated HC were intra-splenically transplanted and 107 bone marrow cells were injected in a penile vein into the recipients on the third day. Simultaneously, 70% hepatectomy and ligation of common bile duct were done. Thirty days later; the grafted spleen had areas with external appearance of a normal liver in ten out of 14surviving rats [71%]. Hematoxlin and eosin [H and E] staining of sections from these fragments showed sinusoids and portal areas, an evidence of successful hepatocyte engraftment and bile canaliculea formation. Large number of HC clusters of 15 to 20 cells and 2 to 4 distended small bile canaliculea were seen per50 HC. The intrasplenic route for transplanting freshly isolated HC in an immune-compromised animal model was found to give good results regarding cell engraftment and tissue formation

Prevalence of hepatits C virus among blood donors

Seventy blood donors who attended the blood bank in AL-Hussein University Hospital in Cairo were participated in this study. They were subjected to full clinical examination, abdominal ultrasonography, biochemical, and serological investigations. In a trial to find out the prevalence of hepatitis G virus among the blood donors using the reversed transcriptase poly-merase chain reaction [Rt- PCR] and past history of detailed risk factors that make a significant correlation with HGV infection. We found that receiving blood transfusion, frequent blood donation, parentral drug injection, traditional circumcisson during childhood and using other's blades were statistically significant factors incriminated in the transmission of HGV. The prevalence of HGV infection among the blood donors was 18.6%

Detection of hepatitis B virus by in situ hybridization in corneal tissues of HBs AG positive donors

HBV is a hepatotropic virus. The highest concentration found in the blood and liver with lower amount in saliva and semen. The virus was also detected in body fluids. Keratoplasty is an essential operation for the treatment of corneal blindness. At Ain Shams University International Eye Bank 10% of the collected corneas were from donors with HBs antigenemia. These corneas were rejected according to the Eye Bank Association of America. In this study 32 corneal tissues of 16 donors positive HBsAg were examined for the presence of HBV by in situ DNA hybridization technique to detect HBV DNA in the corneal sections This marker could not be seen in this work This preliminary study could be an encouraging step for further researches to, evaluate the possibility of the avascular cornea to carry HBV

In-vitro catabolism of L-histidine by adult schistosoma mansoni

Coupled pairs of Schistosoma mansoni retrieved from mice 6 weeks after infection, were incubated in Hank's medium containing uniformly labelled [14C] L-histidine. After 3 hours of incubation analysis of the medium by column and paper chrormatography demonstrated the presence of [14C] labeled: histamine, urocanic acid, glutamic acid, imidazolepyruvic acid and imidazoleacetic acid. Non-radiolabelled glycine and alanine were also found in the medium. We conclude that histidine is rapidly taken up from medium by S. mansoni and is metabolized via decarboxylation, deamination and transamination pathways and that these products are released by the worms into their environment