Iris Pijnenburg Email & Phone Number

Bilthoven, Utrecht, Netherlands

Eindhoven, North Brabant, Netherlands

Eindhoven

Research of ex vivo normothermic liver perfusion is growing as a potential replacement ofcold storage during liver transplantation. Next to that, it can serve as a model to study newtherapies for liver diseases. A major problem during reperfusion of livers is ischemic reperfusioninjury which is caused by the interrupted and reconnected blood flow to the liver. The hypoxicperiod sets of multiple cascades, including vasoconstriction and an inflammatory reaction, whichcauses liver damage. Prostacyclin is a vasodilator that not only causes relaxation of the vessels,but also helps against aggregation of platelets. In this study, porcine livers obtained fromslaughterhouse and laboratory animals were examined to investigate the effects of prostacyclinon liver function during reperfusion. Results showed that the function of laboratory animalswas higher during perfusion than that of slaughterhouse livers. In the laboratory animals,the effects of prostacyclin were increasing the liver function, as ALT levels and ICG half-lifedecreased, glucose and lactate levels were regulated, and production of bile was also increased.A function increase was not seen for slaughterhouse livers. Here, function with prostacyclintreatment only increased when there was also regulation of glucose levels by insulin infusion.To improve the functionality of the slaughterhouse livers even more it is suggested to includeinfusion of amino acids. Thereby, a longer perfusion time could give more information aboutthe functionality since it was seen that the values improved after 180 minutes.

Master Of Science - Ms, Regenerative Medicine And Technology

Bachelor'S Degree, Biomedical Technology/Technician