RESUMO
To investigate the clinical features of alcoholic liver disease [ALD] in hospitalized Chinese patients, and their differences compared with western countries. Four hundred and eight hospitalized patients with ALD at First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University College of Medicine, Hangzhou, from January 2008 to December 2010 were studied retrospectively. Clinical data were analyzed and compared with western countries through literature review. The patients with ALD accounted for 7.8% of all hospitalized patients with liver diseases. These patients comprised 400 men and 8 women, aged between 45 and 55 years. Among the patients, there were 318 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis [77.9%], 48 patients with alcoholic hepatitis [11.8%], 9 patients with fatty liver [2.2%], and 33 patients with mild alcoholic injury [8.1%]. The abstinence rate in these patients was 37.7%. Logistic-regression analysis showed that daily intake amount, duration of drinking, drinking hard liquors and smoking were the risk factors for alcoholic cirrhosis, but abstinence was the favorable factor for treatment. Compared with western countries, Chinese patients had a lower constituent ratio of ALD among liver diseases, lower proportions of females, and rate of concomitant hepatitis C infection; but the drinking status, clinical manifestations, and abstinence rate were similar between them. There are differences as well as similarities between China and western countries in the clinical features of ALD
RESUMO
To investigate whether hepatic oval cells are activated in diethylnitrosamine [DEN]-induced rat liver cirrhosis, and to explore its mechanism. Liver cirrhosis was induced in rats [n=8] by weekly intraperitoneal injections of DEN at a dose of 50mg/kg body weight for 12 weeks followed by a 2-week wash out period. Rats [n=5] that received isovolumic vehicle served as the control group. Liver pathology was examined. Apoptotic hepatocytes were identified and quantified by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end-labeling [TUNEL] assay. Oval cells were detected using immunohistochemical staining for pyruvate kinase type M2 [M2PK] and cytokeratin 19 [CK19]. The work was carried out at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China from February to December 2009. Liver cirrhosis developed in rats subjected to DEN administration. The TUNEL and morphology assay showed that a substantial number of hepatocytes underwent apoptosis. The apoptotic index in rats subjected to DEN administration [0.75 +/- 0.15] was much higher than normal control rats [0.10 +/- 0.05]. Both CK19 and M2PK were moderately expressed in the rat liver cirrhosis, and the expression was dispersed or forming small cords in the liver; but the expression was hardly detected in the liver tissue of normal control rats. In the DEN-induced rat liver cirrhosis, oval cells are activated and stimulated to proliferation, the mechanism of which may be related to substantial hepatocyte apoptosis in the model