Abstract:

Objective   To observe lung injury after total hepatic vascular occlusion in cirrhotic rats at different times. Methods   A total of 80 SD rats developed liver cirrhosis by receiving alcohol and CCl4, and they were randomly divided into 4 groups(n= 20). The hepatic artery, portal vein, liver superior vena cava and hepatic inferior vena cava were blocked for 15min (group A2), 30min (group A3) and 45min (group A4) to establish a rat model of total hepatic vascular occlusion, rats free from occlusion (group A1) as controls. The lung tissue in the right lung lower lobe was taken for pathological examination by HE staining. The TNF-α level in lung homogenates was measured by ELISA. The wet/dry ratio was determined in part of the left lung lobe. Results   The conventional pathological lung injury score ranked in a decreasing order from groups A4, A3, A2 to group A1(P<0.05), and the TNF-α level in the lung measured by ELISA and wet / dry weight ratio of the lung showed the same order (P<0.05 and P<0.001 respectively). Conclusion   Lung injury can be caused after total hepatic blood flow occlusion in rats with liver cirrhosis, and the injury is significantly increased after occlusion for more than 30min.

Key words: Cirrhosis; Total hepatic blood flow occlusion; Lung; Rats