Effect of a novel solution for organ preservation on equine large colon in an isolated pulsatile perfusion system.

The study explores how a modified organ perfusion solution (OPS) can help maintain the integrity of equine large colon for 12 hours in the absence of both oxygen and blood, thus potentially protecting them from the damaging impacts of ischemia and reperfusion injury.

Background and Purpose of the Study

• The study follows previous experiments that attempted to mitigate the impact of ischemia and reperfusion injury (IRI) in the equine jejunum using different therapeutic agents, but with mixed outcomes.
• The focus of this research is to see if a notable organ perfusion solution (OPS)– originally developed for preserving human allografts against IRI — can also spare equine large colons from oxygen and blood deprivation-induced damage.

Research Methodology

• Parts of large colon were taken from anesthetized horses, cleansed, and rinsed with 0.9% saline.
• These sections were then perfused for 12 hours using one litre of modified OPS via pulsatile flow through an extracorporeal circuit.
• The research compared these results against control segments which were perfused with one litre of the horses’ own blood.
• The researchers tracked a variety of metrics, including vascular resistance, flow, and pressure, while aliquots of OPS and blood were drawn every hour for biochemical analyses.
• The team took mucosal biopsies at the beginning, midway, and end of the procedure to measure any changes in mucosal integrity, expression of enzymes cyclooxygenases-1 and -2, and levels of the protein calprotectin.

Research Findings

• The study reported successful machine perfusion of all colon segments without any technical issues.
• Vascular and biochemical markers remained steady over 12 hours in the OPS group and for 6 hours in the control group but degraded later.
• The mucosal integrity and the expression of cyclooxygenases-1 and -2 and mucosal calprotectin in the OPS group did not differ from the baseline tissues, demonstrating the successful preservation of the colonic tissue.

Conclusion

• The findings suggest that the modified OPS effectively preserves colonic mucosal integrity for 12 hours without oxygen and blood.
• This showcases its potential as a solution to counter the effects of IRI in equine large colon.