BACKGROUND: Hepatic transplantation is inevitably associated with periods of complete ischemia. However, the clamping of hepatic vascular pedicle is limited by the consequences of the post-ischemic injury to the liver. AIM: To determine the main metabolic alterations caused for the hepatic ischemia and the probable hepatoprotective effect cyclosporin. METHOD: Normothermic hepatic ischemia during 60 minutes was induced in the rats. The time-course (0, 1, 6, 24 hours) of changes in blood and in the hepatic concentrations of lactate, pyruvate, glucose, ketone bodies and in the ratio of acetoacetate/3-hydroxybutyrate, as well as the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial redox state of the liver cells were determined. A group of animals was daily pre-treated with cyclosporine (10 mg/kg) during 4 days until the induction of hepatic ischemia, then they studied 1 hour after hepatic revascularization. Hepatic ischemia caused elevation in the concentrations of lactate in the liver, suggesting that a pronounced level of anaerobic metabolism occurred during the ischemia period. Liver ischemia promoted yet a fall in the concentration and in the ratio of ketone bodies (acetoacetate/3-hydroxybutyrate) in the arterial blood in the studied period of one hour post-revascularization, perhaps reflecting impairment of ketogenesis as a result of the ischemic injury. CONCLUSION: The treatment with cyclosporine cause elevation in the concentration of ketone bodies and in the ratio of acetoacetate/3-hydroxybutyrate in the arterial blood 1 hour after reperfusion of the liver, suggesting that these drugs may accelerate the recovery of the ischemic hepatic lesion with reactivation of ketogenesis.
Liver; Hepatectomy; Ischemia; Cyclosporin; Rats
