THE PRODUCTION AND CLEARANCE OF ENDOTHELIN AND ITS INFLUENCE ON KIDNEY-FUNCTION AFTER LIVER-TRANSPLANTATION IN RATS

To assess the involvement of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in rat liver allograf t rejection, we evaluated ET-1 expression in tissues obtained from BN (RT1(n)) to BN rats (group 1), and DA (RT1(a)) to BN rats (group 2). T he ET-1 levels in group 1, determined by radioimmunoassay, remained lo w in the serum, liver, and bile, but in group 2, they peaked on postop erative day (POD) 5 in the liver, kidney, bile, and urine, at 344 +/- 31.6 pg/gwet, 306 +/- 97.4 pg/gwet, 1008 +/- 258 pg/day, and 156 +/- 4 5 pg/day, respectively, whereas levels in the serum peaked on POD 7 at 38.7 +/- 13.1 pg/ml. In the portal vein (PV) ET-1 showed extremely hi gh levels without statistical difference between groups 1 and 2, at 93 .0 +/- 15.5, and 83.0 +/- 9.84 pg/ml on POD 7, respectively. However, in the suprahepatic vena cava (SHVC) and the abdominal aorta (AO), the ET-1 levels were statistically higher in group 2 compared to group 1 (P < 0.01). Immunohistochemical staining showed decreased staining of the liver and kidney in group 2 on POD 7. In conclusion, increasing le vels of ET-1 were released from the liver and kidney during the early stage of rejection, resulting in the high ET-1 levels in these tissues , which were cleared promptly. However, an increased production of ET- 1 was not observed in association with the release of ET-1.