Effects of portal venous arterialization on acute occlusion of hepatic artery in rats.
BACKGROUND
A fatal complication after liver transplantation is anastomotic embolization of the hepatic artery. In order to solve this problem, the portal venous arterialization (PVA) is used to reconstruct the hepatic arterial blood flow. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of PVA on rats with acute occlusion of hepatic artery.


METHODS
Rat PVA models were established and then randomly divided into Group 1 (control group), Group 2 (jaundice group), Group 3 (bile duct recanalization group), and Group 4 (portal vein arterilization group). Recanalization of the common bile duct and PVA were performed 5 days after bile duct ligation in the rats. The influence of the PVA on general conditions, hepatic changes of structure and function, portal vein pressure and hepatic micrangium were observed for one month.


RESULTS
Five days after common bile duct ligation the serum bilirubin, transaminase and alkaline phosphatase levels were significantly increased. Compared with group 1, there was a statistically significant difference (P < 0.01). These rats then underwent bile duct recanalization and PVA. After a month, the liver functions and microscopic structures completely returned to normal and, compared with group 1, there was no statistically significant difference in portal vein pressure (P > 0.05). Vascular casting samples showed that hepatic sinusoids were slightly thicker and more filled than normal ones and although they had some deformations, the hepatic sinusoids were still distributed around the central vein in radial form.


CONCLUSIONS
Within a month after operation, bile duct recanalization and PVA do not show obvious adverse effects on liver hemodynamics and hepatic micrangium, and the liver function and microscopic structure can return to normal.
Chen
Yong-liang
YL
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, General Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Bejing 100853, China.
Li
Wen-gang
WG
Huang
Zhi-qiang
ZQ
Huang
Xiao-qiang
XQ
Chen
Ming-yi
MY
Duan
Wei-dong
WD
D000818:Animals; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D001166:Arteriovenous Shunt, Surgical / Q000379:methods; D001794:Blood Pressure; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008102:Liver Circulation; D008297:Male; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley