Study on the relationship between biliary cirrhosis and hepatopulmonary syndrome and its reversibility in young rats submitted to ligation of the common bile duct

Abstract

Introduction: In pediatric clinical practice, a major cause of liver disease is biliary atresia, which even after surgery progresses to biliary cirrhosis and need for liver transplantation. Among the complications of liver cirrhosis in other organs is hepatopulmonary syndrome. Its pathophysiology remains incompletely understood and it has not been established at what stage of liver disease it starts. The resolution of issues like this, besides clarifying the possibility of reversal of hepatopulmonary would be of importance for the management of complications of pediatric liver disease. Objectives: to study, with histological, gasometric and molecular methods, the occurrence of hepatopulmonary syndrome following common bile duct ligation in young rats, correlating it with the degree of liver cirrhosis; to observe if there is improvement in the pulmonary condition after bile flow reconstruction and for how long after common bile duct ligation this procedure is effective, based on O2 and CO2 partial pressures, alveolar-arterial gradient, histological and molecular parameters. Methods: 36 young Wistar rats divided into 5 groups will be submitted to common bile duct ligation. They will be sacrificed 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 weeks after the procedure and liver and lung samples will be collected for histological and molecular analyses. Blood will be collected from abdominal aorta for arterial gasometry. Other 36 rats divided into 5 groups will undergo the same surgery. Then their bile flow will be reconstructed 2, 3, 4,6 and 8 weeks after the initial procedure. They will be sacrificed 3 weeks after the last procedure and samples of liver, lung and blood form abdominal aorta will be collected. (AU)