Gianfranco Alpini
Texas A&M University System Health Sciences Center College of Medicine
and Central Texas Veterans Health Care System
Scott & White Hospital
Temple, Texas, U.S.A.

Domenico Alvaro
University of Rome "La Sapienza"
Rome, Italy

Marco Marzioni
Universita Politecnica delle Marche School of Medicine
Ancona, Italy

Gene LeSage
University of Texas Houston Medical School
Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

Nicholas LaRusso
Center for Basic Research in Digestive Diseases
Mayo Medical School, Clinic and Foundation
Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.A.

Table of Contents

1. Normal and Abnormal Development of the Biliary Tree
James M. Crawford

2. Human Liver Stem Cells: Recent Developments
Alastair J. Strain

3. Vascularization of the Intrahepatic Biliary Tree and Its Role
in the Regulation of Cholangiocyte Growth
Eugenio Gaudio, Paolo Onori, Antonio Franchitto, Roberta Sferra,
Antonella Vetuschi, Sergio Morini, Gianfranco Alpini and Domenico Alvaro

4. Ultra-Structural Analysis of the Intrahepatic Bile Duct System
Luca Marucci, Anne Marie Jezequel and Antonio Benedetti

5. Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of the Rat Intrahepatic Biliary Tree:
Physiological Implications
Tatyana V. Masyuk, Anatoliy I. Masyuk, Erik L. Ritman and Nicholas F. LaRusso

6. Cholangiocyte Ion Channels: Targets for Drug Development
J. Gregory Fitz

7. Effects of Cytokines and Nitric Oxide on Bicarbonate Secretion
by Cholangiocytes
Carlo Spirlì, Lajos Okolicsanyi and Mario Strazzabosco

8. Hormonal Regulation of Cholangiocyte Secretion
Alessandro Gigliozzi, Flavia Fraioli and James L. Boyer

9. Purinergic Regulation of Bile Ductular Secretion
Jonathan A. Dranoff

10. Calcium Signaling in Cholangiocytes
Erick Hernandez and Michael H. Nathanson

11. Bile Acid Interactions with Cholangiocytes
Gianfranco Alpini, Shannon Glaser, Heather Francis, Marco Marzioni,
Julie Venter, JoLynne Phinizy and Gene LeSage

12. Aquaporin-Mediated Water Transport in Intrahepatic Bile Duct
Epithelial Cells
Anatoliy I. Masyuk and Nicholas F. LaRusso

13. ABC Transporters, Organic Solute Carriers and Drug Metabolising
Enzymes in Bile Duct Epithelial Cells
Peter L.M. Jansen

14. Regulation of Secretion in Human Gallbladder Epithelial Cells
Nicolas Chignard, Laura Fouassier, Annick Paul and Chantal Housset

15. Ductal Bicarbonate Secretion in Human Cholestatic Liver Diseases
Juan F. Medina and Jesus Prieto

16. Participation of Cytokines and Growth Factors in Biliary Epithelial
Proliferation and Mito-Inhibition during Ductular Reactions
Anthony J. Demetris, J.G. Lunz III, Vladimir Subbotin, Tong Wu, Isao Nozaki,
Sarah Contrucci and Xia Yin

17. Estrogen Regulation of Cholangiocyte Proliferation
Domenico Alvaro, Gianfranco Alpini, Paolo Onori, Antonio Franchitto,
Maria Grazia Mancino, Shannon Glaser, Veronica Drudi-Metalli,
Alessandro Gigliozzi, Adolfo Franco Attili and Eugenio Gaudio

18. Nerve Regulation of Cholangiocyte Functions
Barbara Barbaro, Shannon Glaser, Heather Francis, Silvia Taffetani,
Marco Marzioni, Gene LeSage and Gianfranco Alpini

19. Cholestasis and Fibrogenesis
Massimo Pinzani

20. Apoptosis of Biliary Epithelial Cells
Natalie J. Török and Gregory J. Gores

21. Cytokine Regulation of Cholangiocyte Growth
Yoko Yamagiwa and Tushar Patel

22. Fas-Mediated Cholangiopathy in a Murine Model
of Graft-versus-Host Disease
Yoshiyuki Ueno

23. Functional Heterogeneity of the Intrahepatic Biliary Epithelium
Shannon S. Glaser, Heather Francis, Marco Marzioni, Silvia Taffetani,
Jo Lynne Phinizy, Gene LeSage and Gianfranco Alpini

24. In Vitro Systems for the Study of the Intrahepatic Biliary Epithelium
Ruth Joplin, Shahnaz Gill, Sarah Ward and Stivelia Kachilele

25. Mouse Knockout Models of Biliary Epithelial Cell Formation
and Disease
Lopa Mishra

26. Drug-Induced Vanishing Bile Duct Syndromes
Tania A. Roskams and Valeer J. Desmet

27. Biliary Atresia
David H. Perlmutter

28. Primary Biliary Cirrhosis Bench to Bedside
Shinji Shimoda, Akiyoshi Nishio, Hiromi Ishibashi and M. Eric Gershwin

29. Immunopathogenesis of Vanishing Bile Duct Syndromes
John M. Vierling, Marius Braun and Haimei Wang

30. Cryptosporidium and Bile Duct Injury
Xian-Ming Chen and Nicholas F. LaRusso

31. Liver Disease in Cystic Fibrosis
Carla Colombo, Pier Maria Battezzati, Clara Fredella and Andrea Crosignani

32. Medical Treatment of Vanishing Bile Duct Syndrome in Adults
C. Squarcia Giussani, Andrea Crosignani and Mauro Podda

33. Ursodeoxycholic Acid Treatment of Vanishing Bile Duct Syndromes
Christian Rust and Ulrich Beuers

34. Liver Transplantation for Adult Vanishing Bile Duct Syndromes
Mario Angelico

35. Pathology of the Intrahepatic Biliary Tree after Liver Transplantation
James Neuberger and Rebecca Harrison