Effect of portal vein restriction combined with hepatic artery ligation on liver regeneration and injury in rats

Libin YAO; Wenzhuo ZHANG; Xiaocheng ZHU

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To evaluate the effect of portal vein restriction combined with hepatic artery ligation on Sprague Dawley(SD) rats liver regeneration and injury.

Methods:

Twenty-four healthy and clean SD male rats, 250-280 g, 7-8 weeks old, were randomly divided into portal vein ligation (PVL) group, mild restriction group and moderate restriction group with 8 rats in each group. In PVL group, the right, caudal and left branches of portal vein were ligated, and only the right branches of portal vein were preserved. The operation of mild and moderate restriction group was the same as PVL, however, the left branch of the portal vein was slightly and moderately restricted, and the left branch of the hepatic artery was ligated at the same time. At 72 hours after the operation, the left middle lobe was stained with hematoxylin-eosin and the total necrosis score was calculated. The right middle lobe was immunostained for Ki-67 and the number of positive cells was counted. The liver regeneration rate of the right middle lobe was calculated and the serum liver function indexes were measured.

Results:

The hepatic regeneration rate of right middle lobe in PVL group was (109.1±10.9)%, while that in moderate restriction group was (105.0±12.3)%, which was significantly higher than that in the mild restriction group (67.1±6.4)%, the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). The Ki-67 result was also higher in the PVL group than the mild restriction group. The total necrosis score was 4.50(3.25, 6.00) in moderate restriction group, 2.00(1.25, 3.00) in PVL group and 0(0, 0.75) in mild restriction group. The three groups showed a decreasing trend and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). Alanine aminotransferase in mild restriction group was (48.4±11.4) U/L, was significantly lower than that in PVL group (67.2±12.2) U/L and moderate restriction group (74.3±14.2) U/L, the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). There were no significant differences in serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase, albumin and total bilirubin among the three groups ( P>0.05).

Conclusion:

Appropriate portal vein restriction combined with hepatic artery ligation can effectively induce the regeneration of liver tissue on the reserved lobe and control the damage of liver tissue on the occluded lobe.