Establishing a donation after cardiac death model in pigs

Due to the lack of human donors, several strategies have sought to expand the organ pool. Efforts to characterize donation after cardiac death (DCD) have included studies of cell viability, histological and immunohistochemical changes, and oxidative stress, which is known to negatively impact graft survival. A large animal model would be useful for these inquiries. Therefore, we sought to establish a DCD animal model in pigs.

We simulated non-heart-beating donation Maastricht II and III conditions in 24 pigs. Cardiac fibrillation was induced using 9-V direct current. After various times of ventricular fibrillation (1-10 minutes) with no mechanical and/or medical treatment to achieve cardiac output, reanimation was performed for 30 minutes prior to multiorgan donation. Then, a neurological status was performed. Blood samples were obtained at defined times tissue samples were stored in liquid nitrogen and subsequently embedded in paraffin and subjected to further analysis.

We established a DCD pig model in our laboratory by inducing cardiac fibrillation. Up to now, only DCD donation according to the Maastricht criteria II and III has been performed, but establishing all Maastricht criteria of DCDs seems to be feasible.

A DCD model in pigs enables us to characterize organ quality more precisely as well as evaluate amelioration of storage conditions and donor treatments in a large-animal model.