Capillary blood pressure in the endocrine and exocrine parenchyma of rat pancreas transplants

Abstract

Background. Transplantation of isolated organs or cells leads to a functional denervation of the organ, which may cause a hyperperfusion of blood. The current study evaluated to what extent blood perfusion and capillary blood pressures were affected in the transplanted rat pancreas. Methods. Inbred, male Wistar-Furth rats underwent transplantation with a syngeneic pancreaticoduodenal graft. Four weeks later, blood flow to the native and transplanted pancreases was measured with a microsphere technique. Capillary pressures were measured by direct micropuncture technique. Results. An increased islet blood flow was consistently observed in the transplanted pancreas as compared with the native organ, while whole pancreatic and duodenal blood flow was similar in the native and transplanted organs. The capillary pressure was twice as high in the exocrine pancreas (6-7 mm Hg) of both the native and transplanted glands when compared with that of the islets (approximately 3 mm Hg). There were no differences in the capillary pressures in either the islets or exocrine gland when native and transplanted pancreases were compared. Conclusions. We conclude that the transplanted whole pancreas retains a low islet capillary blood pressure after transplantation despite having a higher islet blood perfusion. (Surgery 2001;129:196-202.)