[Protection of cadaver lungs of non-heart-beating donor lung transplantation in rats].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the methods to alleviate lung injury of non-heart-beating donor to attain better structure and function.

METHODS

Sixty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groupsú a heart-beating donor group(HBD group), a non-heart-beating donor group without protective measures(NHBD-N group), a non-heart-beating donor group with continuous mechanical ventilation or with topical cooling on cadaver lung (NHBD-V group and NHBD-I group). After the transplantation, lung compliance,pulmonary function,wet/dry ratio of lung and content of energy metabolism were compared among the 4 groups.

RESULTS

Due to the longer warm ischemic period, NHBD lungs suffered more injuries than HBD lungs. However, compared with NHBD-N group, the wet/dry ratio of the lung in NHBD-V group and NHBD-I group was lower(5.28+/-1.24,4.21+/-0.85,4.14+/-1.33,P<0.01),the lung injury index (14.35+/-3.21,11.28+/-3.26,10.41+/-2.85, P<0.01)and the count of white blood cells(425.60+/-86.47,316.30+/-56.24,295.50+/-70.26, P<0.01) were milder, while the lung compliance and preservation of energetic metabolte were better in the NHBD-V group and the NHBD-I group.

CONCLUSION

Continuous mechanical ventilation or topical cooling may protect the NHBD lung during the warm ischemic period.