© 2014. Al Ameen Charitable Fund Trust, Bangalore 224 Al Ameen J Med Sci 2014; 7(3):224-228 ● US National Library of Medicine enlisted journal ● ISSN 0974-1143 ORIGINAL ARTICLE CODEN: AAJMBG Beneficial role of antioxidants during liver transplantation Vaishali S. Patil 1* , Adinath N. Suryakar 2 and Pradeep Naik 3 1 Department of Biochemistry, Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College, Vidyanagar, Kasba Bawda, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India, 2 Registrar, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Mhasrul, Vani-Dindori Road, Nashik, Maharashtra, India and 3 Department of Biochemistry, Global Hospitals, Khairatabad Road, Lakdikapul, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India Abstract: Background & Objectives: Initial graft dysfunction, an event mainly due to the unavoidable ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury of the transplanted organ, is one of the most important early post-operative problems in liver transplantation. It is well known that antioxidants significantly improves early allograft function and both graft and patient survival. Thus, the present study was carried out to evaluate the exact role of antioxidants during liver transplantation. Method: We assessed serum lipid peroxide (as oxidant), serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) and serum vitamin E (as antioxidant) in 30 patients undergoing liver transplantation and equal numbers of healthy subjects. Results: We found that the concentration of serum lipid peroxide (MDA) was significantly increased and antioxidants were significantly decreased in all stages of liver transplant patients as compared with healthy controls (P<0.001). On reperfusion there was pronounced consumption of antioxidants and highly elevated levels of serum lipid peroxide was seen than in those of pre- reperfusion and post-reperfusion stages (P<0.0001) of liver transplantations. Conclusion: Antioxidants can be used in liver transplantation patients to effectively reduce the severity of reperfusion injury and to improve short-term allograft function and patient survival. Keywords: Hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury; Lipid peroxide (MDA); Superoxide dismutase (SOD); Vitamin-E. Introduction Transplantation of a solid organ from an organ donor has emerged as a treatment option for many diseases that otherwise mean certain death or long-term dependency on life support systems for the patient [1]. Despite the shortage of organs for transplantation, careful attention is paid to the fact that only functionally intact undamaged organs are used for transplantation [2]. However, even with major improvements in the logistics of organ transplantation, every transplantation starts with an inevitable insult on the graft: ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) [3]. Initial graft dysfunction, an event mainly due to the unavoidable ischemia-reperfusion injury of the transplanted organ, is one of the most important early post-operative problems in liver transplantation [4]. A major source of liver graft injury results from the over generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during the reperfusion phase [5-6]. This over generation of ROS stimulated by the I/R is thought to play an important role in mediating cell injury as these species may interact with essential cellular targets, including proteins ,lipids and DNA, compromising cell viability and function [7]. A variety of oxygen derived free radicals are produced during I/R injury. Superoxide (O 2 - ) is generated by the activation of xanthine oxidase and in the presence of free iron, forms the damaging hydroxyl radical. Nitric oxide (NO . ), itself a free radical is also liberated and reacts with superoxide (O 2 - ) to form peroxynitrite, eventually decomposing to the hydroxyl radical (OH - ). Thus, reperfusion injury is characterized by loss of endothelial cell viability, which occurs after cold ischemic storage and reperfusion of liver at transplantation [6]. Liver cells, mainly hepatocytes, contain a number of mechanisms designed to counterbalance the potential damaging effects exerted by ROS, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and vitamin-E are the most important of these