Heart Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Heart Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Oxidative stress in organ preservation: a multifaceted approach to cardioplegia.

Nelson SK, Bose S, Rizeq M, McCord JM

Webb-Waring Institute for Biomedical Research, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 E. Ninth Avenue, Box C-321, Denver, CO 80262, USA. sally.nelson@UCHS.edu

Every transplant is a reperfused organ and, therefore, undergoes some degree of oxidative damage. Postischemic reperfusion injury results in non-specific free radical-mediated acute endothelial damage, cell death and organ failure. The endothelium is a key site of injury from reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the endothelial cell dysfunction is central to the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis. Accelerated arteriosclerosis, secondary to chronic allograft rejection, is a major long-term complication of heart transplantation. Therefore, preservation methods that would decrease injury during reperfusion are very important. We have developed a unique preservation solution, with a multifaceted approach, which best preserves the organ from ROS for an extended period of time before transplantation. The advantages of extending this period of preservation include an expansion of the donor pool, by permitting more distant procurement, the ability to perform detailed tissue typing, therefore, improves histocompatibility match and a reduction in emergency surgery as a result of graft rejection.

Published 2 May 2005 in Biomed Pharmacother, 59(4): 149-57.
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