Development of porcine equivalent RCC and plasma units for translatable ex vivo organ perfusion research

While transplantable organs are usually transported on ice, ex vivo organ perfusion (EVOP) has allowed for improved organ preservation by maintaining organs at body temperature while circulating blood through the vasculature. In the case of ex vivo heart perfusion (EVHP), diluted whole blood from the organ donor is used. Unfortunately, brain-dead donors release damaging inflammatory molecules into their blood which can affect organ quality. The use of allogeneic blood products may be a preferred source for EVHP, but studies to evaluate this are hampered by the shortage of human organs available for research resulting in the use of porcine models. However, the lack of knowledge on the preparation and storage of porcine component blood products has precluded their use in EVHP research. We propose to create and assess the storage characteristics of a porcine equivalent of a fresh, frozen plasma unit and red cell concentrate, and study its clinical relevance in porcine EVHP. Ultimately, this project would enable researchers to model clinically relevant EVHP techniques which could result in the use of more appropriate blood products during clinical EVHP. This may improve the quality of transplantable organs by limiting the adverse effects of poor blood quality on organ function.

ACKER, Jason

University of Alberta

Intramural Research Grant Program

Alberta

$121,834