Alternations of liver pathophysiology in experimental hepatic failure treated by two forms of plasma purification procedure.

Plasma cross-circulation which resembles plasma exchange and plasma perfusion over charcoal and resin adsorbents were carried out using rats with galactosamine (GalN)-induced hepatic failure to investigate the effects of those plasma purification procedures on damaged liver function. Twenty-four hr after the injection of GalN, the plasma treatment procedures were performed at a plasma flow rate of 0.1 ml/min for 6 hr. Forty-eight hr after the injection of GalN, ATP synthesis in liver mitochondrial function, and ATP and total adenine nucleotide contents in the liver, which were markedly reduced by the GalN administration, were increased by both plasma cross-circulation and plasma perfusion over adsorbents. These results suggest that both plasma purification procedures improve the deterioration of mitochondrial phosphorylation activity and produce an augmented high energy status in the liver. In the histological study of the liver, volume ratio of hepatic parenchyma in the GalN-treated liver to that in the normal liver was significantly higher in rats treated with plasma perfusion than those with sham-perfusion. An efficient removal of the hepatotoxic metabolites from the plasma, therefore, decelerates the progress of GalN induced-liver tissue necrosis, if rats with GalN-induced hepatic failure are treated in an early stage.