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Updated: Oct 15, 2026
Heterotopic Auxiliary Rat Liver Transplantation With Flow-regulated Portal Vein Arterialization in Acute Hepatic Failure
Published on: September 13, 2014
Auxiliary rat liver transplantation with portal vein arterialization in acute hepatic failure
K Schleimer1, R Lange, U Rauen
1Department of General Surgery, Institute of Physiological Chemistry, University Clinic, University of Essen, Germany.
Background:
The aim of our work was to study the effect of the portal vein arterialization of an auxiliary liver graft on survival, liver function, and regeneration of the native liver suffering from surgically induced acute liver failure (ALF).
Methods:
In Lewis rats (control group: n=10), ALF was induced by resection of about 85% of liver tissue. The auxiliary liver graft (reduced size of 30%) was transplanted into the right upper quadrant of the abdomen (trial group: n=12). The portal vein was arterialized via the renal artery. The infrahepatic vena cava was anastomosed end-to-side, and the bile duct was implanted into the duodenum.
Results:
Survival rate over a 3-month period was 10/12 in the trial group vs. 2/10 in the controls. In the trial group, the prothrombin time rose up to 38+/-2 sec on day 1 after surgery (control group: 66+/-6 sec); on day 5 after surgery, it returned to values of 30+/-1 sec. On day 1 after surgery, serum albumin fell to 25+/-1 g/L (preoperative value: 32+/-1 g/L). Within 3 weeks, it returned to normal. The hepatobiliary scan on day 7 after surgery showed normal uptake in the liver graft, whereas the uptake of the native liver was distinctly reduced. After 3 months, the transplanted liver had atrophied (0.6% of body weight), the native liver hypertrophied (2.5% of body weight), with a normal total weight for both livers of 3.1% of body weight.
Conclusions:
Thus, auxiliary liver transplantation with arterialized portal vein allows maintenance of liver function at the time of ALF and regeneration of the native liver.
