Effect of sugars in the preservation solution on liver storage in rats

Abstract

We have performed 128 rat liver transplants in order to examine the effect of sugars in preservation solutions on cold storage of rat livers. Glucose (Mw. 180), sucrose (Mw. 348), and raffinose (Mw. 594) were tested. Rat livers were preserved at 4 °C for 12, 16, 18, and 24 h in standard Eurocollins solution (EC solution) (solution A) or in one of three modified EC solutions in which 194 m M/liter glucose in standard EC solution was replaced by 140 m M/liter of glucose (solution B), sucrose (solution C), or raffinose (solution D). The osmolarity of the modified solutions (solution B-D) was 320 mOsm/liter. Using standard EC solution (solution A), the 1-week survival rate of rats receiving livers preserved for 12, 16, 18, or 24 h was 6 8 , 4 8 , 1 8 , and 0 4 , respectively. With solution B, in which 194 m M/liter glucose was replaced by 140 m M/liter glucose, 1 week survivors following transplantation of livers preserved for 12, 16, 18 or 24 h were 4 8 , 3 8 , 2 8 and 0 4 , respectively. Solution C, which was identical to solution A except for the replacement of 194 m M/liter glucose by 140 m M/liter sucrose, gave the following 1-week survival rates: 5 8 for 12 h, 5 8 for 16 h, 2 8 for 18 h, and 0 4 for 24 hours preservation, respectively. Using solution D, which differed from A in the replacement of glucose by 140 m M/liter raffinose, the 1-week survival rates of rats grafted with livers preserved for 12, 16, 18, and 24 h were 6 8 , 5 8 , 3 8 and 0 4 , respectively. The degree of hepatic edema, defined by the percentage of tissue water content and histological study of livers preserved in solutions B–D for 16 h, suggested that liver is more edematous in the preservation solution containing, in decreasing order, 140 m M/liter glucose, 140 m M/liter sucrose and 140 m M/liter raffinose. Inclusion of a less permeable sugar in the liver preservation solution definitely contributed to the suppression of cold-induced liver tissue edema. Nevertheless, the hepatic edema produced by a permeable sugar was reversed when normothermic metabolism was restored and there were no significant differences in the survival rate of rats transplanted with livers preserved in the different preservation solutions. These results suggest that the sugar used in preservation solutions may not play an important role for the cold storage of liver.