Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 29, 2025
08:54
Functional Human Liver Preservation and Recovery by Means of Subnormothermic Machine Perfusion
Published on: April 27, 2015
17.0K
Machine perfusion of the liver and bioengineering
Andrea Schlegel1, Hynek Mergental2, Constantino Fondevila3
1Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Centre of Preclinical Research, Milan, 20122, Italy; Department of Surgery and Transplantation, Swiss HPB Center, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
Journal of Hepatology
|May 19, 2023
Summary
Improving donor liver quality is crucial. Machine perfusion, enhanced with bioengineering and ex situ treatments, offers promising strategies to optimize organs for transplantation, addressing donor shortages.
Area of Science:
- Hepatology
- Transplantation Medicine
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Growing organ transplant waiting lists necessitate improved donor liver quality and quantity.
- Dynamic organ preservation, including machine perfusion, enhances liver function and graft survival.
- Current perfusion techniques still leave some donor livers unsuitable for transplantation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current strategies for improving donor liver quality.
- To explore bioengineering techniques for optimizing organs during machine perfusion.
- To discuss the benefits and challenges of advanced liver perfusion strategies.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on donor liver preservation and machine perfusion.
- Analysis of bioengineering approaches applied during ex situ liver perfusion.
- Discussion of therapeutic interventions (stem cells, senolytics, gene modulation) during perfusion.
Main Results:
- Machine perfusion can be extended for days to allow ex situ treatments.
- Bioengineering techniques enable scaffold development and re-cellularization.
- Gene modulation offers potential for xenotransplantation and organ repair.
Conclusions:
- Prolonged machine perfusion with ex situ treatments can further optimize donor livers.
- Bioengineering and gene modulation represent advanced strategies for organ development and repair.
- These innovative approaches hold significant promise for addressing donor liver scarcity and improving transplant outcomes.
