CHANGES IN P-31-RELAXATION TIMES DURING ORGAN PRESERVATION - OBSERVATIONS ON COLD-STORED HUMAN DONOR LIVERS

During cold preservation for transplantation the tissue hydration stat e changes, It is not known whether such changes lead to altered relaxa tion times of P-31 nuclei with potential consequences for the quantifi cation of tissue metabolites, Therefore, P-31 spectroscopic and proton T-1 relaxometric measurements were performed on 42 isolated human don or livers shortly before implantation, The results demonstrate that P- 31 T-1 relaxation times change during preservation for clinical transp lantation, thus quantification of tissue metabolites in cold stored do nor livers may be in part dependent on the tissue hydration state, Fur thermore, it appeared that changes in tissue hydration state especiall y affect the physico-chemical characteristics of the intracellular flu id compartment. This study indicates that reliable spectroscopic quant ification of tissue metabolites, particularly during sequential spectr oscopic measurements in cold stored donor organs is best warranted und er fully relaxed conditions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.