Immediate effects of hepatic denervation on hepatic hemodynamics in dogs

This study was conducted to examine the immediate effects of hepatic surgical denervation on the hepatic blood flow in anesthetized dogs. A surgical denervation model was created by removing all visible nerves around the portal vein, the hepatic artery and the bile duct along with the peri-hepatic tissues. The hepatic hemodynamics were measured pre and postoperatively in the hepatic denervation group (n = 6) and control group (n = 6). The portal venous blood flow and the hepatic tissue blood flow showed no significant differences between the two groups throughout the experiment. The hepatic arterial blood flow at 120 min after denervation (220 +/- 46 ml/min) had significantly higher than that (114 +/- 14 ml/min) in the control group (p < 0.05). These results indicate that hepatic denervation is implicated in the hepatic arterial blood flow, and the hepatic nerves play an important role in the regulation of the hepatic arterial blood flow.