Administration of atracurium during reperfusion of rat livers after 21 h of cold ischaemic storage in different solutions

Abstract

The pharmacokinetics of atracurium are not altered by impaired hepatic function. The drug is therefore used widely in liver transplant patients. In previous work on the hepatotoxic effects of atracurium in an isolated, perfused rat liver model, we could not detect biochemical (release of lactate dehydrogenase or aspartate aminotransferase) or histological evidence of liver cell damage, except a reduction in hepatic tissue ATP content. In the present study, rat livers were reperfused with Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate buffer with or without atracurium after 21 h of cold ischaemic storage in University of Wisconsin (UW), Bretschneider's HTK or Euro-Collins solution. UW-protected livers showed a complete restoration of ATP, total adenine nucleotides and energy charge during reperfusion, but the addition of atracurium diminished the regeneration capacity to about 50%. The energy charge (an index for determination of liver viability) was also reduced markedly.