Transplantation Proceedings, Vol 22, No 4 (August), 1990: pp 2004-2005

Assessment of Reperfusion Injury ny Intravital Flourescence Microscopy Following Liver Transplantation in the Rat

I. Marzi, Y. Takei, J. Knee, M. Menger, G. J. Gores, V. Bühren, O. Trentz, J. J. Lemasters, R. G. Thurmann

ABSTRACT

Despite significant advances in liver preservation and transplantation, primary nonfunction occurs in up to 23% of cases and mortality is about 80% if retransplantation is not possible. The reasons for dysfunction and nonfunction of liver grafts are not yet identified, but there is evidence that a reperfusion injury occurs following ischemic storage. Reperfusion injury following liver preservation in the rat, however, is confined primarily to endothelial cells and spares hepatocytes. Since the time course of graft survival was shorter than the time course of endothelial cell injury following liver preservation in the rat, it was hypothesized that polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNL) are involved in the mechanism of reperfusion injury. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to apply fluorescence microscopy in vivo to transplanted livers and to study PMNL following orthotopic liver transplantation in the rat.