Effect of drug treatment on liver-slice function following 72-hour hypothermic perfusion

The viability of hypothermically perfused dog liver was evaluated with a tissue-slice technique. After being preserved for 72 hr, slices of liver were incubated at 30 degrees C for as long as 2 hr; then water content, K+/Na+ ratio, and ATP concentration were measured. Dog livers were assigned to the following experimental groups: Group 1 (no preservation; control); Group 2 (livers preserved for 72 hr); Group 3 (donor animals pretreated with 3.5 mg/kg of chlorpromazine (CPZ) and 20 mg/kg of methylprednisolone (MP), and livers preserved for 72 hr); Group 4 (livers pretreated with 2-deoxycoformycin (2-DOC), 50 mg/liter, and preserved for 72 hr); and Group 5 (combination of Group 3 and Group 4 treatments). Livers in Groups 2, 3, and 4 lost K+ during preservation, and the mean K+/Na+ ratio significantly decreased from a control value of 4.2 +/- 0.4 to 1.5-1.9 (P less than 0.05). Group 5 livers did not lose K+; mean K+/Na+ ratio was 3.9 +/- 0.5. Fresh livers (no preservation) rapidly reaccumulated K+ when the tissue slices were incubated for 2 hr at 30 degrees C; mean K+/Na+ ratio was 3.7 +/- 0.5. Tissue slices from Group 2 livers (72 hr preservation), and livers pretreated with CPZ-MP (Group 3) or pretreated with 2-DOC (Group 4) did not significantly reaccumulate K+ at 30 degrees C; mean K+/Na+ ratio was 1.7-2.1. Only slices prepared from liver pretreated with both CPZ-MP and 2-DOC reaccumulated K+; mean K+/Na+ ratio was 4.6 +/- 1.2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)