BACKGROUND: The scarcity of appropriate donor organs remains to be a major problem in transplantation surgery today. This has led to increased acceptance of so-called marginal grafts, incorporating the increased risk of poor posttransplant function. Erythropoietin has been shown to reduce ischemia-reperfusion injury in transplanted rat livers. We investigated whether these capacities may contribute to improve marginal organ function. METHODS: One hundred and forty Lewis rats were used. Fatty liver (>or=50% steatosis) was induced by a special diet in 70 donor animals. Seventy recipients received liver transplantation after donor organ treatment with 1000 IU rhuEpo or saline injection (controls) into portal veins (cold ischemia 6 hr, University of Wisconsin solution). Recipients were allocated to two groups which received 1000 IU rHuEpo at reperfusion or an equal amount of saline (control). Analysis of liver enzymes, histology (hematoxylin-eosin and periodic acid Schiff stain), immunostaining (terminal deoxynucleotide transferase- mediated dUTP nick-end labeling, hypoxyprobe, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha), and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction of cytokine messenger RNA (interleukin-1, interleukin-6, hypoxia induced factor-1 alpha, vascular endothelial growth factor, and hepatocyte growth factor) were performed at defined time points (2, 4.5, 24, 48 hr, and 7 days postoperatively). RESULTS: Alanine aminotransferase values were significantly reduced for epo-treated rats 48 hr after reperfusion; however, at all other time points enzyme levels were without significant differences. Terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling and hypoxyprobe analysis and necrotic index evaluation displayed significant reduction of apoptosis and hypoxic cells in rHuEpo-treated graft livers. Overall survival was significantly improved among epo-treated rats. CONCLUSION: Erythropoietin improves marginal graft function and recipient survival after transplantation of fatty livers in rats.
BACKGROUND: The scarcity of appropriate donor organs remains to be a major problem in transplantation surgery today. This has led to increased acceptance of so-called marginal grafts, incorporating the increased risk of poor posttransplant function. Erythropoietin has been shown to reduce ischemia-reperfusion injury in transplanted rat livers. We investigated whether these capacities may contribute to improve marginal organ function. METHODS: One hundred and forty Lewis rats were used. Fatty liver (>or=50% steatosis) was induced by a special diet in 70 donor animals. Seventy recipients received liver transplantation after donor organ treatment with 1000 IU rhuEpo or saline injection (controls) into portal veins (cold ischemia 6 hr, University of Wisconsin solution). Recipients were allocated to two groups which received 1000 IU rHuEpo at reperfusion or an equal amount of saline (control). Analysis of liver enzymes, histology (hematoxylin-eosin and periodic acid Schiff stain), immunostaining (terminal deoxynucleotide transferase- mediated dUTP nick-end labeling, hypoxyprobe, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha), and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction of cytokine messenger RNA (interleukin-1, interleukin-6, hypoxia induced factor-1 alpha, vascular endothelial growth factor, and hepatocyte growth factor) were performed at defined time points (2, 4.5, 24, 48 hr, and 7 days postoperatively). RESULTS: Alanine aminotransferase values were significantly reduced for epo-treated rats 48 hr after reperfusion; however, at all other time points enzyme levels were without significant differences. Terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling and hypoxyprobe analysis and necrotic index evaluation displayed significant reduction of apoptosis and hypoxic cells in rHuEpo-treated graft livers. Overall survival was significantly improved among epo-treated rats. CONCLUSION:Erythropoietin improves marginal graft function and recipient survival after transplantation of fatty livers in rats.
Authors: J Wells Logan; Elizabeth N Allred; Raina N Fichorova; Stephen Engelke; Olaf Dammann; Alan Leviton Journal: Cytokine Date: 2014-06-02 Impact factor: 3.861
Authors: Kenya Yamanaka; Philipp Houben; Helge Bruns; Daniel Schultze; Etsuro Hatano; Peter Schemmer Journal: PLoS One Date: 2015-04-28 Impact factor: 3.240