Expression of aminopeptidase N in bile canaliculi: a predictor of clinical outcome in biliary atresia and a potential tool to implicate the mechanism of biliary atresia.

Background. Only a few studies on extrahepatic biliary atresia (BA) have reported that the morphological changes of bile canaliculi could predict the clinical outcome after portoenterostomy and provide differential diagnosis of neonatal jaundice. Aminopeptidase N (APN) is an ectoenzyme of bile canaliculi that is involved in bile secretion. In this study, we tried to see whether APN of bile canaliculi had a significant role in BA.