Value of alpha glutathione S-transferase for in vitro evaluation of preservation injury in normal and steatotic livers.
Liver steatosis is frequently encountered at organ harvest and, although functionally inapparent in the donor, may seriously affect the functional recovery of the graft after ischemic preservation. The present study was aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of alpha-glutathione S-transferase (GST) in non-ischemic and ischemic livers with or without compensated steatosis. A histologically documented mild to moderate steatosis was induced in livers of male Wistar rats by fasting for 2 days and subsequent feeding of a fat-free diet enriched in carbohydrates. Fatty livers (FL) were retrieved and perfused in vitro for 45 min either immediately or after ischemic preservation at 4 degrees C in HTK solution. Effluate was collected during isolated perfusion and later analysed for liver specific enzymes, including GST. Normal livers (NL) were excised from healthy rats and underwent the same protocol. Non-ischemic livers showed similar enzyme release (FL versus NL) for ALT or GLDH but significant differences in GST. After ischemic preservation of NL, enzyme release increased mildly with respect to the non-ischemic reference values for ALT, remained unchanged for GLDH and rose substantially for GST. In FL, there was a more than 10-fold increase in all parameters, being most pronounced for GLDH as a marker of mitochondrial damage. It is concluded that GST may discriminate between healthy and suboptimal steatotic livers prior to ischemia and that the release of GST upon postischemic reperfusion of normal livers proves to be the most sensitive indicator for hepatocellular injury. However, GST turned out to be less useful for the detection of postischemic reperfusion injury in steatotic grafts.
Minor
T
T
Division of Surgical Research, Clinic of Surgery, University of Bonn, Germany. tminor@uni.bonn.de
Akbar
S
S
Tolba
R
R
D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D005969:Glutamate Dehydrogenase / Q000032:analysis; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000032:analysis*; D008099:Liver / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009926:Organ Preservation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D015415:Biomarkers; D005969:Glutamate Dehydrogenase; D005982:Glutathione Transferase; D000410:Alanine Transaminase