Viability of partial liver graft from living donor in pigs

For evaluation of the viability of partial liver graft from a living donor, we investigated energy production of mitochondria and radical scavenging enzyme activities in partial and whole liver transplantation in pigs. The values of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and total adenine nucleotide (TAN) of the partial liver graft were higher than those of the whole liver graft, whereas the hypoxanthine of the partial liver graft was lower than that of the whole liver graft. There was no statistical difference in the radical scavenging enzyme activities between the two groups. The values of respiratory control ratio (RCR) in both groups were above 3.0 and there was no statistical difference. The survival rates of pigs received partial liver and whole liver graft with 2 to 3 hr cold preservation was 71% and 91%, respectively and there was no statistical difference between two groups. These results suggest that viabilities of the partial liver graft from the living donor are satisfactory enough, compared with those of whole liver graft from a cadaver.