A reliable graded acute liver failure model in rats: treatment with internal bioartificial liver

Appropriate animal models are important for studying acute liver failure. This study was to assess a new suitable rat model for acute liver failure.

After the right influent hepatic vessels were clamped for a period of time (45, 60 or 90 minutes respectively), the animal model was established by removal of the clamp for restoring blood flow of the right lobes while immediately removal of the median, left lateral and caudate lobes. Animal survival rate was observed in the following 14 days in each group. To study the pathophysiological changes of the model, some biochemical parameters in 5 consecutive days were evaluated in the 60-minute group. Internal bioartificial liver was transplanted in the peritoneal cavity to test the reversibility of the model.

The survival rate of the models decreased, as the ischemia time of the right lobes prolonged to zero in the 90-minute group, to 50% in the 60-minute group and to 100% in the 45-minute group on the fifth day after operation. The levels of ammonia, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin and prothrombin were elevated dramatically 12 to 24 hours after operation in the 60-minute group. When internal bioartificial liver was transplanted, the survival rate increased significantly in addition to the levels of ammonia and total bilirubin.

A period time of ischemic injury in the right lobe followed by 70% liver resection can produce a graded acute hepatic failure model in rats.