A NEW EXTRACELLULAR TYPE SOLUTION FOR LUNG PRESERVATION - IN-VITRO COMPARISON WITH BELTZER, LOW POTASSIUM DEXTRAN AND EURO-COLLINS SOLUTIONS BY MEANS OF HUMAN LUNG FIBROBLASTS

The attempt to synthesise efficacious solution to prolong lung preserv ation is, at present one of the most interesting challenges in transpl ant research. Recently, several issues emphasise the central role of i onic composition of lung-flush solutions, underlining, however, that c olloid-free solutions are clearly detrimental. We have been studying a complex extracellular type solution (SPAL UP) synthesised to minimise the pathological events that occur during both preservation and reper fusion period. We report the results of toxicity of SPAL UP on normal human fibroblasts obtained from foetal lung (WI-38). WI-38 cells were seeded at 1.4 x 10(4)/cm(2) in disposable plastic 12-well plates. Afte r 3 days, cells were incubated in SPAL UP, Belzer (UWS), Low Potassium Dextran (LPD) and Eurocollins (ECS) solutions for 6 hours at 10 degre es C. Cellular viability was evaluated by the rate of protein synthesi s-exploiting the incorporation of S-35-Methionine (2 mu Ci/ml) in grow th medium with 10 mM unlabelled Methionine during 30 minutes incubatio n at 37 degrees C. The results were expressed ;as nmol. S-35-Methionin e/mg of proteins/minute, and presented as means +/- SD of data of thre e (n = 3) well for each solution studied. Results: the viability at ti me 0 before incubation (considered as control) was 1.65+/-0.1; after h ypothermic preservation the data mere respectively as follow: SPAL UP 0.51 +/- 0.09; UW 0.24 +/- 0.02; ECS 0.19 +/- 0.01; LDP 0.19 +/- 0.05. Conclusions: in this ''in vitro'' model SPAL UP solution provides a s ignificantly (p < 0.05) better cell preservation than regular UW, ECS and LPD solutions.