The Protective Effects Of Melatonin On Ischemic Reperfusion Injury Of Liver Transplantation

Objective To study the influence of melatonin on the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule l(ICAM-l), P-selectin and protective effections on rat liver graft. Methods On the basis of modified two- cuff technique, rat 225healthy male Wistar rats were randomized into 5 groups:group S: (the sham-operated,n=9) without transplantation. 216 of the rats were subjected to orthortopic liver transplantation, group LT: the dornor have no special treatment before harvested , group MT : Melatonin (8mg/kg) was administered on dornor. GroupAL: the dornor were given the same dose of vehicle(<2%alcohol). groupIP: before donor livers were harvested, the portal veins and hepatic arteries of them were interrupted for 10 min,and reflow was initiated for another 10 min. One half of each transplantation group were used to investigate 1 week survival rate of recipients,and another half of recipients in each transplantation group were used to take sample of blood and hepatic tissue after reperfusion 3,6,and 12h.The serum levers of ALT, AST and LDH were detected. The samples of liver were fixed for morphological observation and the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule l(ICAM-l) and P-selectin were assessed by immunohistochemistry respectively.Result The expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1(ICAM-1) and P-selectin in MT group were markedly downregulated than that in the LT group at each corresponding time point after reperfusion.(P<0.01).The survival time of recipient was significantly longer than that in LT group.(P<0.05)Conclusion Melatonin can down-regulate the expression of ICAM-1 and P-selectin in rat liver graft and protect the liver from ischemia and reperfusion injury after transplantion.