Enzymatic and Ultrastructural Evaluation of Hepatic Preservation in Primates

The use of monkeys for hepatic physiologic studies is particularly suitable because of their phylogenetic proximity to man. In addition, the existence of a unique smooth muscle sphincter in the hepatic veins of dogs^1,2 has made this species unsuitable for hepatic studies that are to be correlated with man. Neill and associates² have shown that such hepatic venous sphincters are absent in the livers of monkeys and humans. The primateis, therefore, the laboratory animal most suitable for investigations in the areas of hepatic physiology and endotoxin shock.^3,4

A prerequisite to the development of improved techniques for prolonged hepatic preservation for liver allotransplantation in man is a thorough knowledge of the biochemical and electron microscopic changes that occur in hepatic cells in the primate as a result of hepatic ischemia.^5-7 Cell-stabilizing drugs appear to be of benefit in protecting the integrity of ischemic cells in other species,⁷¹¹