Serum hyaluronic acid as a reliable parameter of allograft viability in porcine liver transplantation.
OBJECTIVE
Hyaluronic acid is an endogenous glycosaminoglycan which is selectively degraded by hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells. We evaluated the significance of serum hyaluronic acid clearance as an early indicator of allograft viability in porcine liver transplantation.


METHODS
According to the survival period, animals were divided into two groups: Group I (n = 8) for survival equal or over four days and Group II (n = 5) for survival less than four days. Serial serum hyaluronic acid concentrations were measured before and after reperfusion in the recipient.


RESULTS
In both groups, serum hyaluronic acid levels during the anhepatic period increased rapidly 9-fold from the preoperative value due to the absence of clearance by hepatic endothelial cells. In Group I, serum hyaluronic acid peaked at 15 min postreperfusion and decreased thereafter. In contrast, Group II failed to show clearance of hyaluronic acid after reperfusion. The serum hyaluronic acid value 120 min after reperfusion was 1,029 +/- 357 micrograms/L in Group I, and 1,856 +/- 263 micrograms/L in Group II (p < 0.01). Conventional parameters of liver function such as aspartate transaminase, lactic dehydrogenase, ammonia, lactate, and total bile acids were comparable between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The clearance of the serum hyaluronic acid reflects hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cell function and is a reliable and early marker of hepatic allograft viability.
Soejima
Y
Y
Department of Surgery II, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Yanaga
K
K
Wakiyama
S
S
Nishizaki
T
T
Yoshizumi
T
T
Sugimachi
K
K
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology*; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D013552:Swine; D013997:Time Factors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D006820:Hyaluronic Acid