[ATP level in the whole rat liver during cold hypoxia and subsequent rewarming]

Cold storage of the whole liver at 4 degrees C in SBS and UW solution allowed to prevent from osmotic swelling of cells, which appeared at early stages of liver storage at 4 degrees C in just saline solutions. This effect of preserving solutions contributes to the preservation of quite high level of intracellular ATP content in liver at the first two stages of hypothermic storage (6 and 18 hrs), which preserves even during following normothermic reperfusion of an organ. A statistical ATP reduction in comparison with the control level (almost twice) can be explained on the one hand by the exhaustion of intracellular substrates of oxidation and on the other hand by their loss for the supporting of homeostasis under cold ischemia and following incubation of liver at 37 degrees C.