Role of activation of hepatic stellate cells in smallª²forª²size graft injury in rat liver transplantation model

    SU Ming1£¬WAN Jun2,HUANG Zhiª²Qiang1,ZHOU Ningª²Xin1

    1Institute of Hepatobiliary Surgery,PLA General Hospital,Beijing 100853,2Department of Surgery,Research Center of Hepatobiliary, Hong King University,Hong Kong,China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿AIM: To investigate the role of the activation of hepatic stellate cells in smallª²forª²size graft injury in a rat liver transplantation model.METHODS: A rat orthotopic liver transplantation model using normal liver grafts (100% and 50% of the recipient rat liver) was employed. The recipients were sacrificed at 6 and 48 hours after the liver transplantation.The liver tissues were sampled for the determination of hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation (aª²SMA expression) by immunostaining.The 7ª²day survival rates were compared between the rats receiving whole liver transplantation and those receiving smallª²forª²size liver transplantation.RESULTS: The 7ª²day graft survival rate of smallª²forª²size grafts was significantly lower than that of whole grafts [16.7% (2/12) vs 91.7% (11/12)].The intragraft expression of ¦Áª²SMA in the smallª²forª²size graft group was significantly higher than that of the whole graft group during the first 6 and 48 hours after liver transplantation.CONCLUSION: Significant activation of hepatic stellate cells may play an important role in smallª²forª²size graft injury in rat liver transplantation model. ......