The aim of this study was to determine whether the minimum necessary volume of a moderate
fatty liver graft was similar to the normal liver volume and to elucidate means for improving the function of the transplanted
fatty liver if it were inferior in volume to a normal liver under conditions of permissible cold preservation. Nine-week-old male Wistar rats were used. Normal rat chow was fed to the normal liver group, and fat-enriched rat chow was fed to the
fatty liver group for 4 weeks to induce a moderately
fatty liver.
Liver transplantation with various volumes of reduced-size grafts, including whole liver graft (100%LT), 70% volume graft (70%LT), and 30% volume graft (30%LT), was performed with both groups of rats as donors. All procedures were performed under the conditions of 2-hour cold preservation. All rats with an implanted normal liver were surviving at 7 days after the operation regardless of the graft volume (100%LT, 5 of 5; 70%LT, 5 of 5; 30%LT, 5/5). In contrast, the survival rates decreased according to the graft volume in rats implanted with fatty livers (100%LT, 8 of 8; 70%LT, 5 of 8; 30%LT, 2/8). To improve the survival of 30%LT with
fatty liver, we employed two potent inhibitors of
ischemia-reperfusion injury:
FK506 and
prostaglandin E1. Though
FK506 had no advantageous effect,
prostaglandin E1 significantly improved the survival rate and diminished serum levels of
alanine aminotransferase and
hyaluronic acid. In conclusion, the volume of graft necessary for successful
transplantation is larger in fatty livers than in normal livers in permissible cold preservation. Also,
prostaglandin E1 protects grafts against
ischemia-reperfusion injury and improves the functioning of a transplanted
fatty liver.