Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 21, 2015; 21(35): 10113-10125
Published online Sep 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i35.10113
Hepatic artery bridging lessens temporary ischemic injury to bile canaliculi
Jia-Zhong Wang, Yang Liu, Jin-Long Wang, Le Lu, Ya-Fei Zhang, Hong-Wei Lu, Yi-Ming Li
Jia-Zhong Wang, Yang Liu, Jin-Long Wang, Le Lu, Ya-Fei Zhang, Hong-Wei Lu, Yi-Ming Li, Department of General Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Li YM conceived the research and critically reviewed and revised the manuscript; Wang JZ and Liu Y collected and tested the specimens, and performed data analysis; all authors participated in the operations; Wang JZ drafted the manuscript; and Li YM approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81170454.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Second Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Medicine Institutional Review Board.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Xi’an Jiaotong University (IACUC protocol number: XJTULAC20120026).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that there are no conflicting interests (including but not limited to commercial, personal, political, intellectual, or religious interests) related to the work.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Yi-Ming Li, Department of General Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, No. 157 Xiwu Road, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China. wjz05202156@stu.xjtu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-29-87679746 Fax: +86-29-87679746
Received: January 18, 2015
Peer-review started: January 30, 2015
First decision: May 18, 2015
Revised: May 30, 2015
Accepted: July 15, 2015
Article in press: July 15, 2015
Published online: September 21, 2015
Processing time: 242 Days and 12.3 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To study whether transfer of blood between the right gastroepiploic artery and gastroduodenal artery could lessens the damage to bile canaliculi.

METHODS: Forty male Bama miniature pigs were divided into four groups as follows: a control group, two hepatic artery ischemia groups (1 h and 2 h), and a hepatic artery bridging group. The hemodynamics of the hepatic artery in the hepatic artery bridging group was measured using color Doppler ultrasound. Morphological changes in the bile canaliculus were observed by transmission electron microscopy. Cofilin, heat shock protein 27 and F-actin expression was detected by immunohistochemistry, Western blot, and real-time polymerase chain reaction. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end-labeling method was used to evaluate liver injury.

RESULTS: The hemodynamics was not changed in the hepatic artery bridging group. The microvilli in the bile canaliculus were impaired in the two hepatic artery ischemia groups. The down-regulation of cofilin and F-actin and up-regulation of heat shock protein 27 were observed in the two hepatic artery ischemia groups, while there were no significant differences between the control group and hepatic artery bridging group.

CONCLUSION: Hepatic artery ischemia aggravates damage to bile canaliculi, and this damage can be diminished by a hepatic artery bridging duct.

Keywords: Nonanastomotic biliary strictures; Hepatic artery ischemia; F-actin; Cofilin; Heat shock protein 27; Hepatic artery bridging

Core tip: The incidence of nonanastomotic biliary strictures ranges from 1% to 20% after liver transplantation (LT). The manner by which arterial ischemic injury to the bile ducts may be reduced in LT is an urgent problem to be addressed. The aim of this study was to validate whether a bridging duct between the right gastroepiploic artery and gastroduodenal artery could lessen the damage to the biliary tract. We have observed that hepatic artery ischemia aggravates damage to bile canaliculi, and this damage can be diminished by a hepatic artery bridging duct.