Effect of Kupffer cells on immune tolerance in liver transplantation

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of Kupffer cells on immune tolerance in liver transplantation. METHODS: The rats were randomly divided into A, B and C groups. A group was sham operation group. The donor rats of group B had intraperitoneal injection of 1 nmol Kuppffer cells every other day for three days before liver transplantation. Rats of group C were injected with equal saline. The rat liver transplantation models were established by modified Kamada's two-cuff technique. The rats were sacrificed after 24 hours. The concentrations of ALT and AST in serum were measured with the biochemical analyzer. The level of IL-2 and TNF-α in serum were measured by ELISA method. The apoptotic indexes were detected by immunohistochemical assay. RESULTS: The concentration of ALT, AST, IL-1 and TNF-α in A, B and C groups were increased successively. The levels of group C were significantly higher than that of group B and A (P<0.05), and the levels of group B were significantly higher than that of group A (P<0.05). The apoptotic indexes of three groups were 3.40±0.37, 14.70±2.54 and 26.33±3.65, respectively, with significant difference among three groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Pretreatment with Kupffer cells can reduce liver injury and raise liver transplantation immune tolerance.