X-Message-Number: 13868 Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 09:04:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Doug Skrecky <> Subject: an unexpected result in rat heart preservation Preservation and Resuscitation of Rat Isolated Heart for 10-26 Days in Perfluorocarbon and Silica Gel Seki, K. Cryobiology 39(4): 305-306 December 1999 Abstract: Clinical transplants of human lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, and pancreas are routinely performed today. However, with the number of people waiting for transplants increasing yearly, the shortage of donors has become a serious problem, prolonging the waiting time until surgery. Moreover, at present even if a donor is found, organs, unlike blood, cannot be preserved over long periods, and the supply system for such organs remains inadequate. the inability to preserve donor organs for long periods is the main reason why no system similar to a blood bank for organs exist. Cold preservation of transplant organs is the mainstream practice, but because of the preservation limit of 4-24 h, a new technique for immediate preservation and later resuscitation is needed. Here we demostrate through surface cardiac electrocardiogram (SECG) recordings that a removed rat isolated heart, which has been surrounded by silica gel in a wire mesh sieve, immersed in perfluorocarbon solution, and refrigerated at 4 C for 10-26 days, can be resuscited upon irrgation with a Langendorff perfusion solution and that the nerve cells continue to function and support life. The idea that removed rat hearts could survive more than 10-26 days under ischemic conditions came from the discovery of Seki and Toyoshima 1998, Nature 395, 853-854 that, under anhydrous conditions, tardigrades had the viability to withstand high hydrostatic pressures of up to 600 MPa. We reasoned that lengthening the rat isolated heart preservation period would depend not on the components of the storage solution, but on the absolute amount of free water, and that resuscitation after a long preservation period would be possible by providing the same conditions for the physiological mechanisms of dehydration and water absorption within the cells of the heart tissue as were used with the tardigrades. In future, studies to verify the present findings will be necessary. In conclusion, the present study: (1) verified by SECGs that an extirpated rat isolated heart could be preserved for at least 10-26 days and successfully resuscitated and, (2) demonstrated that preservation and resuscitation of an extirpated rat heart is made possible by active reduction of free water in tissue cells. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=13868