A rat model of liver transplantation with a steatotic donor liver after cardiac death.

This study aimed to establish a rat liver transplantation model with a steatotic donor liver after cardiac death, reflecting clinical conditions. Rats were fed a high-fat diet for 8 weeks to establish the fatty liver model. This model simulates liver steatosis caused by various factors before clinical donation after cardiac death. A pneumothorax was created in the donor rat to induce hypoxia and cardiac arrest before incising the liver. This simulated the processes of hypoxia and cardiac arrest caused by withdrawal of treatment in actual clinical situations. The harvested cardiac death donor liver was then transplanted using the Kamada technique. Donor operative time was 45.7 ± 4.2 min; cardiac arrest time, 9 ± 0.8 min; recipient surgery time, 40.3 ± 4.9 min; and no-liver time, 15 ± 2.5 min. Of 40 liver-transplanted rats, 2 died within 24 h, with a surgical success rate of 95%. The transaminase levels on post-transplantation days 1, 3, 5, and 7 were 835.4 ± 71.33 U/L, 1334.5 ± 102.13 U/L, 536.4 ± 65.52 U/L, and 218.2 ± 36.77 U/L, respectively. This rat liver transplantation model with a steatotic donor liver after cardiac death could improve the simulation of the pathophysiological processes of clinical donation after cardiac death, and could be used as a reliable and stable animal model.