Double-lobectomy in a steatotic liver transplantation rat model

Establishing a steatotic liver transplantation animal model can be a challenging process, which requires complex microsurgical technologies. The present study established a novel rat model of stable steatotic liver transplantation for marginal liver graft research, which notably minimized the number of animals used for the experiment. Briefly, male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=90) were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD; 60%, kJ) or standard chow diet (SCD) for 8 weeks. The liver enzymes and lipid levels were assessed every week, and the degree of steatosis was determined via hematoxylin and eosin and Oil Red O staining. The results demonstrated that there were no significant differences in alanine aminotransaminase and aspartate aminotransferase levels between the SCD and HFD groups (P>0.05), whereas the level of plasma triglyceride (TG) increased by 1.76-fold in the HFD group at week 2, and progressively decreased to baseline levels by week 8. Significantly higher levels of TG were observed in the HFD group compared with the SCD group at week 2 (P<0.05). In addition, the levels of plasma glucose (P<0.05), portal insulin (P<0.05) and content of liver lipid (P<0.01) increased in the HFD group compared with the SCD group. After 6 weeks, the liver steatosis was successfully formed and stable. Consequently, a rat liver developed hepatic macrovesicular steatosis >60%, which was subsequently used for transplantation after double-lobectomy. Post-transplantation survival rates in the HFD and SCD groups were as follows: Week 1, 80 vs. 100% and 1 month, 20 vs. 100%. A total of 20 rats were not sacrificed by performing double-lobectomy for biopsy. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that rat liver double-lobectomy may be safely applied in steatotic liver transplantation without the need to sacrifice a large number of animals.