Liposoluble antioxidants are not consumed in the pancreas after reperfusion in human simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation.

Abstract

There is considerable evidence that under experimental conditions, oxygen free radicals (OFRs) are decisive in the pathogenesis of ischemia-reperfusion injury. Normally OFRs are scavenged by antioxidants such as alpha-tocopherol. Thus, in the following study we investigated whether antioxidants are consumed locally in human pancreatic grafts after reperfusion. A series of ten patients receiving bladder-drained pancreaticoduodenal and renal allografts were studied. Sequential blood samples were drawn locally from the venous outflow of the graft and simultaneously from the radial artery after reperfusion. alpha-Tocopherol, retinol, lycopene, and alpha- and beta-carotene levels were determined. After reperfusion these levels remained largely unchanged. Hence, in our study a consumption of antioxidants locally in the pancreatic graft after transplantation was not demonstrated. Therefore, the antioxidant capacity seems not to be exhausted at that time. This suggests that in clinical pancreatic transplantation oxidant stress in the initial reperfusion period might not have the relevance suggested by animal models.