Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2026
Ex Situ Normothermic Machine Perfusion of Donor Livers
Published on: May 26, 2015
Hypothermic machine perfusion ameliorates ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat lungs from non-heart-beating donors
Daisuke Nakajima1, Fengshi Chen, Tetsu Yamada
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Background:
The use of non-heart-beating donors (NHBD) has come into practice to resolve the shortage of donor lungs. This study investigated whether hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) can improve the quality of NHBD lungs.
Methods:
An uncontrolled NHBD model was achieved in male Lewis rats. Ninety minutes after cardiac arrest, HMP was performed for 60 min at 6°C to 10°C. The first study investigated the physiological lung functions during HMP and the lung tissue energy levels before and after HMP. The second study divided the rats into three groups (n=6 each): no ischemia group; 90-min warm ischemia+60-min HMP+120-min static cold storage (SCS) (HMP group); and 90-min warm ischemia+180-min SCS group. All lungs were reperfused for 60 min at 37°C. Lung functions were evaluated at given timings throughout the experiments. Oxidative damage during reperfusion was evaluated immunohistochemically with a monoclonal antibody against 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine.
Results:
The first study revealed that lung functions were stable during HMP. Lung tissue energy levels decreased during warm ischemia but were significantly increased by HMP (P<0.05). The second study confirmed that HMP significantly decreased pulmonary vascular resistance, increased pulmonary compliance, and improved pulmonary oxygenation. The ratio of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine positive cells to total cells significantly increased in the SCS group (P<0.01).
Conclusions:
Short-term HMP improved lung tissue energy levels that decreased during warm ischemia and ameliorated ischemia-reperfusion injury with decreased production of reactive oxygen species.
