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Role of hepatic artery in haemodynamics in normal and cirrhotic livers in rats
Author(s) -
SHIBAYAMA YURO,
NAKATA KATSUJI
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1746.1991.tb00916.x
Subject(s) - medicine , portal venous pressure , inferior vena cava , artery , ligation , hemodynamics , right gastric vein , venule , vein , cardiology , fibrous capsule of glisson , blood flow , blood pressure , portal hypertension , pathology , microcirculation , cirrhosis
To examine the degree of influence of the hepatic artery on microcirculation in the liver, microscopic observation of blood flow in the hepatic minute blood vessels and the sinusoids and pressure measurements at key points in hepatic vascular pathways in vivo were performed before and after hepatic artery ligation in normal and cirrhotic rats. In normal rats, portal vein pressure (109mmH 2 O) fell 10mmH 2 O after hepatic artery ligation, but the pressures of the terminal portal venule, the terminal hepatic venule and the inferior vena cava did not change. In cirrhotic rats, portal vein pressure (206 mmH 2 O) and terminal portal venule pressure (106mmH 2 O) fell 23 and 10mmH 2 O after hepatic artery ligation respectively: the pressures in the terminal hepatic venule and the inferior vena cava did not change. These results suggest that the pressure transmitted from the hepatic artery was mostly supplied to the intrahepatic portal vein in normal rats and both to the intrahepatic portal vein and to the sinusoids in cirrhotic rats. In both normal and cirrhotic rats, however, the pressure transmitted from the hepatic artery was about 10 per cent of the initial portal vein pressure, and the blood flow in minute vessels and sinusoids did not change after hepatic artery ligation. Accordingly, it is believed that the hepatic artery plays only a small role in the haemodynamics of the liver in both normal and cirrhotic rats, irrespective of the distribution and manner of the hepatic arterial termination.