A new approach in organ preservation: potential role of new polymers

The storage conditions of the donor kidney may influence the deleterious consequences of ischemia/reperfusion (IR), which remains a major source of complications in clinical practice. Delayed graft function (DGF), seen in 20% to 50% of transplanted cadaver kidneys, is a major risk factor affecting early and long-term graft survival, patient management, and costs of transplantation. Cold preservation plays a key role in this process and is based on hypothermia and high potassium solutions. In this review, the authors focused on the major molecular mechanisms of cold storage (CS) injury at the cellular level, which have been recently evidenced with modern biochemical and cell biologic methods. These newly uncovered aspects of cold preservation injury are often not fully addressed by preservation solutions in current clinical practice. The role of new molecules such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) is presented and their properties are analyzed in the organ preservation context. PEG improves organ function recovery and reduces inflammation and fibrosis development in several models. Because organs shortage is also a real public health problem, organs from non-heart beating donors or marginal donors are now used to expand pool of organs. As a consequence, the development of better organ preservation methods remains a major target and deserves scientific consideration.