[Immunological effects of simultaneous injection of dexamethasone-induced apoptotic donor spleen cells in rats with liver transplantation].

OBJECTIVE: To study the immunological effects of simultaneous injection of apoptotic donor spleen cells induced by dexamethasone in rats with liver allotransplantation. METHODS: Four groups of rats were used in this study, each consisting of 10 SD rats and 10 Wistar rats with the former as the recipients and the latter as the donors for liver transplantation. In one of the groups, the recipient rats also received infusion of apoptotic spleen cells (5x10(7)) of the donors induced by an intraperitoneal injection of dexamethasone (at a daily dose of 3 mg/kg) for 3 days before liver transplantation, while in another, the recipient received untreated donor spleen cells. In the third group, the donor was treated with dexamethasone leaving the last group serving as the control group. The blood alanine transaminase (ALT), total bilirubin (TBil), pathological changes of the graft and survival time of the recipients were observed. RESULTS: The recipients with apoptotic donor spleen cell infusion had much higher ALT and TBil levels than those of the other 3 groups (P<0.05), exhibiting significantly shortened survival time and severer acute allograft rejection, as compared with the mild acute rejection in the control group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Simultaneous injection of apoptotic donor spleen cells induced by dexamethasone in rats with liver transplantation aggravates acute allograft rejection, one of the possible mechanisms of which may lie in the failure of timely removal of the apoptotic cells that release inflammatory factors.