Organ transplantation--then and now.

The last 25 years have seen amazing progress in transplantation--from the development of techniques for immunosuppression to methods for organ removal and preservation. Our distinguished authors focus on these developments and discuss how the momentum seen during the last quarter century can be accelerated

Glykolytische Shunts sind anaplerotische Reaktionen für den Calvin-Benson-Bassham Zyklus

In this work, it was shown that the cyanobacterium Synechocystis employs three glycolytic shunts as anaplerotic reactions for the CBB cycle. The three shunts, named 'PGI shunt', 'OPP shunt' and 'ED shunt', not only mediated anaplerosis of glucose that was taken up under mixotrophic conditions but also of glycogen-derived glucose under photoautotrophic conditions. It could be shown that degradation of glycogen was able to improve restarting of the CBB cycle after a period of darkness. This suggests, that the cellular glycogen pool in cyanobacteria functions as a metabolic buffer that can be tapped upon demand in order to improve flux in the CBB cycle. The three glycolytic shunts thereby function as anaplerotic reactions. It can be assumed that glycolytic shunts not only help to control metabolite stoichiometry in the CBB cycle, but also to influence the cellular ATP and NADPH pools and thus provide a tool to improve synchronization with the photosynthetic light reaction

Lipid peroxidation is a nonparenchymal cell event with reperfusion after prolonged liver ischemia

A proposed mechanism for irreversible ischemic liver damage has been peroxidation of membrane phospholipids by free radicals. However, the hepatocyte is laden with enzymes which are antioxidants and, therefore, ought to be relatively resistant to oxidative injury. To test the hypothesis that free radical damage from ischemia and reperfusion of the liver is a nonparenchymal cell process, we studied an in vivo model of ischemia. A point of transition from reversible to irreversible ischemia was defined at ≥60 min of total ischemia by serial measurements of ATP at control, end of ischemia, and end of reperfusion periods (n = 6 each). Nonparenchymal cells were separated out of 10 livers in each ischemic group using a Percoll gradient. Second derivative spectroscopy did not detect conjugated dienes in any hepatocellular fraction, total cellular, mitochondrial, or microsomal, but did in the nonparenchymal cell fractions of livers from the 60- and 90-min ischemia groups. This in vivo study shows that irreversible ischemia in the rat liver is associated with free radical lipid peroxidation, but that the nonparenchymal cells rather than hepatocytes are the focus of this injury. © 1990

Future aspects of renal transplantation

New and exciting advances in renal transplantation are continuously being made, and the horizons for organ transplantation are bright and open. This article reviews only a few of the newer advances that will allow renal transplantation to become even more widespread and successful. The important and exciting implications for extrarenal organ transplantation are immediately evident. © 1988 Springer-Verlag