Intrathymic inoculation of liver specific antigen protects hepatocytes from apoptosis after liver allotransplantation / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM: To study the effects of intrathymic inoculation of liver specific antigen (LSA) on hepatocyte apoptosis after liver allotransplantation. METHODS: Orthotopic liver transplantation was used in this study. Group Ⅰ syngenic control (Wistar-to-Wistar); Group Ⅱ acute rejection (SD-to-Wistar); Group Ⅲ thymus inoculation of SD rat LSA day 7 before transplantation. The observation of general situation and survival time, hepatocyte apoptosis and LAT expression in liver transplants were used to analyze immune state of animals in different groups. RESULTS: The general situation of group Ⅰ was very well after transplantation. Recipients of groupⅡ lost body weight progressively and all died within day 9 to day 13 post transplantation. As for group Ⅲ, the general situation of recipients was remarkably better than that in group Ⅱ. The positive cells of apoptosis in group Ⅲ detected by TUNEL were not significantly different from that in group Ⅰ, but was significantly lower than that in group Ⅱ. LAT was detected at any time in group Ⅱ with peak expression at day 5 and day 7 post transplantation. In contrast, LAT was not detected in any other groups. CONCLUSION: Intrathymic inoculation of LSA protects hepatocytes from apoptosis after liver allotransplantation.