A Novel Hypobaric Perfusion Method to Remove Microthrombi in Kidney Grafts with Prolonged Circulatory Arrest: A Pilot Study on a Porcine Model.

Background: Intragraft microthrombi prevent complete organ perfusion, thereby compromising the viability maintained by preservation solutions or machine perfusion. Herein, we developed and evaluated a hypobaric perfusion method for flushing microthrombi from kidney grafts with prolonged circulatory arrest in a porcine model.

Methods: Porcine renal grafts with 1-h warm ischemia were flushed with heparin-containing perfusate in a normobaric environment (control group) or a hypobaric environment of -20 to -30 mm Hg (hypobaric perfusion group) for 10 min using a gravity drip from a 1-m height.

Evaluating a New Device for Reducing Second Warm Ischemia During Organ Transplantation in a Porcine Model of Kidney, Heart, and Pancreas Transplantation.

Background: Second warm ischemia (SWI) injury between the completion of vascular anastomosis and graft reperfusion has been a longstanding issue in organ transplantation. This type of SWI injury is more severe in transplanted organs more sensitive to temperature changes. This study aimed to present the newly developed OrganPocket, an organ protector made from a proprietary elastomer material, and to demonstrate its efficacy in mitigating SWI injury in clinical kidney transplantation.

Transgenic medaka fish which mimic the endogenous expression of neuronal kinesin, KIF5A.

Intracellular transport is spatiotemporally controlled by microtubule-dependent motor proteins, including kinesins. In order to elucidate the mechanisms controlling kinesin expression, it is important to analyze their genomic regulatory regions. In this study, we cloned the neuronal tissue-specific kinesin in medaka fish and generated transgenic fish which mimic endogenous neuronal kinesin expression in order to elucidate the mechanisms which regulate kinesin expression.

Characteristics of ChgH-GFP transgenic medaka lines, an in vivo estrogenic compound detection system.

We previously reported the characteristics of a ChgH-GFP transgenic medaka line that indicates estrogenic compound pollution in environmental water by the green fluorescence of their liver. Recently, we established four more lines. In this study, the characteristics of the five transgenic medaka lines were investigated.

Analysis of estrogenic effects by quantification of green fluorescent protein in juvenile fish of a transgenic medaka.

TheChgH-GFP strain of the teleost medaka contains a regulatory region of the estrogen-responsive choriogenin H (chgH) gene fussed to the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene. The strain was developed for the identification of environmental estrogens by noninvasive analysis of GFP fluorescence. In the present study, a quantification method for GFP by image analysis was establishedand applied to the analysis of time- and concentration-dependent GFP fluorescence in juvenile fish.

In vivo visual reporter system for detection of estrogen-like substances by transgenic medaka.

Detection of endocrine disrupting chemicals, in particular, environmental estrogens with living organisms, has many advantages if compared to chemical analysis. The screening of novel pollutants with meaningful endpoints, the integration of uptake, bioconcentration, and excretion as well as the evaluation of endocrine disrupting effects with respect to toxicity require in vivo biotests for estrogen-like substances (ELSs). Critical disadvantages of whole organism biotests are their low sensitivity and the need for laborious and time-consuming work.