Perfusion of isolated human spleens.

Twelve normal human spleens were perfused in vitro for 17 h at normothermia. The histological structure was well preserved. Splenic imprints showed a normal cellular pattern, mitoses, and labelled lymphoid cells after 3H-thymidine labelling. Metabolic parameters were comparable to in vivo data of human spleens. The perfusion system can preserve the structure and function of human spleens in vitro.