Rat auxiliary liver transplantation without portal vein reconstruction: Comparison with the portal vein-arterialized model

Auxiliary liver transplantation (ALT) has been reintroduced in clinical cas es recently and is now believed to be a viable alternative to orthotopic li ver transplantation. To provide a simple rat ALT model for studying the phy siological and immunological aspects of the ALT graft, a new ALT was perfor med, and the comparison between this new model and the portal arterialized one that was reported by other investigators was carried out. At first, we confirmed that liver could tolerate the deprivation of its portal flow well , using a portosystemic shunted rat model. The new rat ALT model, in which the ALT graft obtained its blood inflow only from the hepatic artery, was t hen performed. Our results demonstrated that 50% of the hepatic artery-alon e ALT graft showed almost normal structure histologically at 1 month after grafting, with bile secretion preserved. By contrast, only 8% 1-month graft survival was noted in the portal arterialized group, and all grafts stoppe d bile secretion 1 week after operation. In conclusion, with arterial blood supply-alone, the ALT graft survived and demonstrated normal bile secretio n function for more than 1 month. Portal vein arterialization is not an app ropriate way to establish the graft's blood supply if no pressure adjustmen t measures were taken in advance. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.