Deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance for evaluating the metabolic status of livers subjected to warm ischemia

Background The development of reliable methods for assessing the viability of currently available livers is expected to increase the number of success ful transplantations. Methods, H-2 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was used to search for metabo lic markers of ischemia in explanted rat livers. Deuterium oxide ((H2O)-H-2 ) was used as a source of H-2. A total of 10-80% v/v (H2O)-H-2 was added to homogenates obtained from a liver biopsy and the formation of H-2-labeled metabolites was monitored. Results. Some well-resolved 2H resonances were found in the homogenates fro m biopsies of warm ischemic liver. Two of these were identified as [3-H-2] lactate and [2-H-2] lactate, and a linear relationship was found between th e ratio of [[2-H-2] lactate] to [[3-H-2] lactate] and the warm ischemia tim e. The deuterium incorporation into lactate was explained on the basis of t he metabolic events occurring under hypoxic conditions. Conclusions, The experimental results support the application of H-2 NMR fo r a reliable evaluation of the metabolic status of a liver harvested from n on-heart-beating donors.