NEURONAL AND MUSCULAR FUNCTIONS AS PARAMETERS OF GRAFT VIABILITY IN SMALL-BOWEL TRANSPLANTATION

The physiological properties of neurons and smooth muscles were studie d after cold preservation of a rat small intestinal graft, in order to evaluate the graft viability before reperfusion. A 25-cm jejunal graf t was harvested from a Lewis rat and stored in University of Wisconsin solution for 0, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hr at 4 degrees C (n = 8, each gro up). The intestinal samples were physiologically studied at the end of cold preservation. The positive rates of the specimens showing both b iphasic nervous activities and spontaneous rhythmic activities were 10 0, 100, 88, 25, and 0% in 0-, 12-, 24-, 48-, and 72-hr preservation gr oups, respectively. The maximal contractions produced by acethylcholin e chloride were 1.12 +/- 0.32, 0.63 +/- 0.22, 0.43 +/- 0.15, 0.52 +/- 0.32, and 0.27 +/- 0.13g for the 0-, 12-, 24-, 48-, and 72-hr preserva tion groups, respectively. The graft survivals after syngeneic transpl antation (n = 6, each group) were 6 out of 6 (100%), 5 out of 6 (83%), 5 out of 6 (83%), 1 out of 6 (17%), and 0 out of 6 (0%) for the 0-, 1 2-, 24-, 48-, and 72-hr preservation groups, respectively. The graft s urvival correlated closely with the positive sample rates of the speci mens, showing both biphasic nervous activities and spontaneous rhythmi c activities. It only took about 1 hr and 20 min to complete the physi ological exammination of the graft, and thus, such an examination of t he graft is considered to be both a simple and a reliable method for p redicting graft viability before transplantation. (C) 1996 Academic Pr ess, Inc.