Donor dopamine treatment limits pulmonary oedema and inflammation in lung allografts subjected to prolonged hypothermia.
BACKGROUND
Endothelial barrier dysfunction severely compromises organ function after reperfusion. Because dopamine pretreatment improves hypothermia mediated barrier dysfunction, we tested the hypothesis that dopamine treatment of lung allografts positively affects tissue damage associated with hypothermic preservation and reperfusion.


METHODS
Rats were treated for 1 hr with dopamine (5 microg/min/kg) or vehicle (NaCl). Thereafter lungs were explanted, flushed with Perfadex solution and stored at 4 degrees C for different time periods. Peak inspiratory pressure (PIP), pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP), and lung weight were measured online during reperfusion. Inflammatory mediators in the perfusate and the expression of adhesion molecules in situ were measured after perfusion.


RESULTS
Lungs could tolerate a cold ischemia time of up to 6 hr with stable PIP, PAP, and no edema formation upon reperfusion. Cold ischemia time above 6 hr significantly increased PIP, PAP, and pulmonary edema in untreated but not in dopamine treated lungs (P< or =0.001 dopamine treated vs. untreated). Perfusion and ventilation alone induced a strong up-regulation of cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 and adhesion molecules in untreated lungs, whereas in dopamine treated lungs significantly lower levels were found. Dopamine treatment also inhibited tissue damage associated with hypothermic preservation as measured by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide staining.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that donor dopamine treatment is a highly effective modality to maintain organ quality of lung allograft. These findings are of high clinical relevance because prevention of tissue damage might reduce complications associated with lung transplantation and hence improve graft survival in lung transplant recipients.
Hanusch
Christine
C
Institute of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care, University Hospital Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany.
Nowak
Kai
K
Törlitz
Patrizia
P
Gill
Ishar S
IS
Song
Hui
H
Rafat
Neysan
N
Brinkkoetter
Paul T
PT
Leuvenink
Henri G
HG
Van Ackern
Klaus C
KC
Yard
Benito A
BA
Beck
Grietje C
GC
D000818:Animals; D054360:Chemokine CXCL1 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D016207:Cytokines / Q000494:pharmacology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007036:Hypothermia, Induced; D007249:Inflammation / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000235:genetics; D016040:Lung Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D009243:NAD / Q000378:metabolism; D011654:Pulmonary Edema / Q000517:prevention & control*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D054360:Chemokine CXCL1; C513297:Cxcl1 protein, rat; D016207:Cytokines; D009243:NAD; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1; D004298:Dopamine