N-acetylcysteine induces shedding of selectins from liver and intestine during orthotopic liver transplantation.

In orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), N-acetylcysteine (NAC) reduces ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, improves liver synthesis function and prevents primary nonfunction of the graft. To further elucidate the mechanisms of these beneficial effects of NAC, we investigated influence of high-dose NAC therapy on the pattern of adhesion molecule release from liver and intestine during OLT. Nine patients receiving allograft OLT were treated with 150 mg NAC/kg during the first hour after reperfusion; 10 patients received the carrier only. One hour after reperfusion, samples of arterial, portal venous and hepatic venous plasma were taken and blood flow in the hepatic artery and the portal vein was measured. Absolute concentrations of sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, sP-selectin and sE-selectin were not markedly different. However, balance calculations showed release of selectins from NAC-treated livers as opposed to net uptake in controls (P < or = 0.02 for sP-selectin). This shedding of selectins might be a contributing factor to the decrease in leucocyte adherence and improved haemodynamics found experimentally with NAC-treatment.