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Query: UMLS:C0239946 (liver fibrosis)
 8,268 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The incidence of chronic liver disease has increased due to more wide-spread alcoholism. Unfortunately practically no success has been achieved as yet in treating the final stage--decompensated cirrhosis of the liver. A decisive factor for progression of this disease is connective tissue formation, that is to say fibrosis in the liver. Up to now fibrosis of the liver can be diagnosed only by biopsy, but there is no method available to estimate the degree of its activity and progression, which would allow a more precise prognosis in the individual case. Some studies done in recent years on this problem of assessing the degree of activity of fibrosis of the liver are reviewed; these studies deal with enzymes and metabolites of collagen metabolism in the serum, glycoproteins and proteoglycans derived from the connective tissue matrix. According to various studies the best indicator of the degree of activity of liver fibrosis seems to be N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase and procollagen-peptide type III in the serum.
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PMID:[Progress in the diagnosis of chronic liver disease: diagnostic activity in liver fibrosis and cirrhosis]. 675 10

In early stage treatment groups, Nifedipine (Nif) could significantly reduce hepatic hyaluronic acid (HA) and hydroxyproline (Hyp) contents in rats in which liver fibrosis had been induced by CCl4 treatment. N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase (beta-NAG) activity showed a similar change in the high dosage group. In late stage treatment groups, HA was reduced markedly, and decreased beta-NAG levels were noted in the high dosage group. These effects on HA, Hyp and beta-NAG were dependent on Nif dosage. The results suggest that Nif could inhibit the development of liver fibrosis in rats, and may even reverse it.
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PMID:[Effects of nifedipine on hepatic hyaluronic acid, hydroxyproline and glucosaminidase contents in rats with liver fibrosis]. 795 65