title: Past and future approaches to ischemia-reperfusion lesion associated with liver transplantation.
abstract: Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury associated with liver transplantation remains a serious complication in clinical practice, in spite of several attempts to solve the problem. The present review focuses on the complexity of I/R injury, summarizing conflicting results obtained from the literature about the mechanisms responsible for it. We also review the therapeutic strategies designed in past years to reduce I/R injury, attempting to explain why most of them have not been applied clinically. These strategies include improvements in pharmacological treatments, modifications of University of Wisconsin (UW) preservation solution based on a variety of additives, and gene therapy. Finally, we will consider new potential protective strategies using trimetazidine, 5-amino-4-imidazole carboxamide riboside (AICAR), melatonin, modulators of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and the phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI3K)-Akt and the p42/p44 extracellular signal-regulated kinases (Erk 1/2) pathway. These strategies have shown promising results for I/R injury but have not been tested in experimental liver transplantation to date. Moreover, we will review ischemic preconditioning, taking into account the recent clinical studies that suggest that this surgical strategy could be appropriate for liver transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Liver Ischemia-Reperfusion Unit, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Barcelona August Pi i Sunyer, Experimental Hepatology, IIBB-CSIC, C/ Rosellón 161, 7th floors, 08036-Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Araní
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casillas-Ramírez
authors.forename: Ismail Ben
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Mosbah
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramalho
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roselló-Catafau
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peralta
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019188:Organ Preservation Solutions / Q000494:pharmacology; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D019188:Organ Preservation Solutions