Influence of estrogen and androgen on the outcome of liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To assess influence of sex hormone on outcome of orthotropic liver transplantation (OLT). METHODOLOGY: Adult female Wistar rats were used as donors and male Wistar rats as recipients. Two experimental series were established. The first series consisted of the orchectomized (ORC) group. 17beta-estradiol (E2) treated-ORC group and recipient Sham-ORC group; the second series consisted of the ovariectomized (OVX) group, dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-treated OVX group and donor Sham-OVX group. Recipients were sacrificed on postoperative day 7 (POD 7); the survival rate (SVR), histomorphological damage score of liver, graft-recipient weight ratio (GRWR) and the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and albumin (ALB) on POD 7 were detected. RESULTS: The histomorphological damage score and the level of ALT and AKP in the E2-treated ORC group, OVX group and DHT-treated OVX group was significantly lower compared with their respective sham group (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Estrogen in recipient rats was responsible for the observed beneficial effects of liver transplantation, but at the same time, influence on liver of estrogen for a long time decreased the adaptability of graft to environment change. In contrary, androgen had less influence than estrogen.