Open AccessImprovement of steatotic rat liver function with a defatting cocktail during ex situ normothermic machine perfusion is not directly related to liver fat content
Author(s) -
Siavash Raigani,
Cailah Carroll,
Stephanie Griffith,
Casie A. Pendexter,
Ivy A. Rosales,
Hany Deirawan,
Rafic Beydoun,
Martin L. Yarmush,
Korkut Uygun,
Heidi Yeh
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0232886
Subject(s) - defatting , machine perfusion , liver transplantation , perfusion , steatosis , transplantation , medicine , ex vivo , bile acid , andrology , biology , biochemistry , in vitro
There is a significant organ shortage in the field of liver transplantation, partly due to a high discard rate of steatotic livers from donors. These organs are known to function poorly if transplanted but make up a significant portion of the available pool of donated livers. This study demonstrates the ability to improve the function of steatotic rat livers using a combination of ex situ machine perfusion and a “defatting” drug cocktail. After 6 hours of perfusion, defatted livers demonstrated lower perfusate lactate levels and improved bile quality as demonstrated by higher bile bicarbonate and lower bile lactate. Furthermore, defatting was associated with decreased gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and increased expression of enzymes involved in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. Rehabilitation of marginal or discarded steatotic livers using machine perfusion and tailored drug therapy can significantly increase the supply of donor livers for transplantation.