Changes of spleen function of hepatic cirrhosis after liver transplantation in rats

Objective:To investigate the changes of spleen function of hepatic cirrhosis rats after liver transplantation.Methods:Hepatic cirrhosis model was established in rats with subcutaneous injections of carbon tetrachloride.Liver transplantation model was established with two-cuff technique.The cell counts of peripheral blood and the morphological changes of spleen were observed before and after liver transplantation in hepatic cirrhosis rats.The spleen T lymphocyte subsets before and after liver transplantation were also assayed by using immunofluorescence staining and flow cytometry.Results:Before liver transplantation,the cell counts in peripheral blood of hepatic cirrhosis rats were significantly decreased(P0.01).The pathological sections of spleen showed that the areas of white pulp were decreased(P0.01),and the areas of spleen trabecula were increased(P0.01).Meanwhile,the ratio of CD4/CD8 of spleen T lymphocyte subsets was decreased(P0.01)while after liver transplantation,the cell counts of peripheral blood were significantly increased(P0.01).The pathological sections of spleen showed that the areas of white pulp were increased(P0.01),and the areas of spleen trabecula were decreased(P0.05).Meanwhile,the ratio of CD4/CD8 of spleen T lymphocyte subsets was increased(P0.01).Conclusions:Hypersplenism of hepatic cirrhosis rats could be significantly relieved after liver transplantation.Liver transplantation can improve the impaired function of spleen.