Study: Nitric Oxide Improves Liver Transplant Outcomes

Treating transplanted livers with nitric oxide when they they first resume functioning in the transplant recipient may dramatically improve outcomes, according to researchers at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

Typically, transplanted livers incur substantial damage when blood flow is restored to the organ after the surgery.

But a study published in the journal Hepatology showed that use of nitric oxide during reperfusion -- the reintroduction of oxygen-deprived tissue to adequate blood flow -- protected cultured rat liver cells from cell death occurring as a result of reperfusion stress.

"Our results suggest that the way we reperfuse the liver can reduce injury to it," said Dr. John Lemasters, professor of cell and developmental biology at UNC.

Preventing such damage is relevant in liver transplants and essential to the success of organ transplantation in general, UNC researchers said. This injury also is central to the nature and development of shock, stroke and heart attacks, Lemasters added.

Other Sources:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine