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The Ussing chamber is increasingly being used for in vitro studies of human intestinal mucosa, but little attention has been paid to the viability of specimens over time. Ninety-one mucosal specimens from the ileum in 19 patients operated on for colonic cancer were studied in regard to intestinal barrier function, metabolism, electrophysiology and histology during 360 min of incubation in Ussing chambers. Steady-state permeability to 51Cr-EDTA was maintained for 120 min. Mucosal ATP and lactate levels were stable for 180 min and transmucosal glucose flux for 240 min. Lactate dehydrogenase leakage was limited within 120 min. Transepithelial potential difference was 9.0 +/- 3.0 mV at the start, and declined slowly throughout 360 min. Light microscopy revealed epithelial lifting from the basal lamina at 90 min. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated preserved ultrastructure for 120 min. Specimens with a transepithelial potential difference below 6 mV at the start were associated with increased 51Cr-EDTA permeability and lactate dehydrogenase leakage and more pronounced light microscopy changes. All studied parameters pointed to preserved viability if experiments were kept within a period of 90 min after equilibration. The few specimens with early viability derangement were identified by a transepithelial potential difference below 6 mV at the start. The Ussing chamber provides a tool for in vitro studies of human intestinal epithelium, including permeability. To minimize viability problems, experiments should be limited in time and monitored by measurements of transepithelial potential difference.

Most transaminitis patients had steatosis, and some had defined diseases including chronic hepatitis C. Chronic hepatitis of unknown etiology was found in a substantial proportion (24%) of a population living in an area with a low burden of hepatic viruses and genetic disorders.

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Discriminant analysis techniques were used to predict the histopathological findings in liver biopsy specimens in asymptomatic patients with slightly to moderately raised routine liver tests. Moderate to severe fibrosis and/or inflammation were treated as indication for biopsy. Two methods were used to classify patients. One was the dichotomous discrimination between “biopsy necessary” or “biopsy not necessary” groups of patients. The other involved combining two discriminant functions trained separately for recognition of fibrosis or inflammation, and then combined to predict the biopsy necessity. Detection of outliers by standard techniques, directly available in the SPSS-X package, was performed before starting discrimination procedures. Both “sharp” assignment rules and continuous scoring rules were applied to the classification problem. The correct classification rate reached over 85% for the algorithms tested. In the majority of cases the classification was found to be “non-doubtful”. Elimination of outliers (especially by standardized residuals) improved the global correct classification rate, but only slightly improved assignment to the “biopsy necessary” group. Routine and complementary laboratory findings were found to be the most discriminating; answers to questionnaire and ultrasound examination were less important. Selection of the most diagnostic features based on “clean” data without outliers enabled us to find interesting medical associations, which were previously masked by extremely asymptomatic values outlying from the main body of the “biopsy necessary” group.

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