Liver regeneration : the impact of altered portal hemodynamics on gene expression and growth of the porcine liver

Abstract

Previous research on liver regeneration has focused on the volume and composition of the blood perfusing the liver remnant and their relative importance in initiating the cascade of liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy. Newer studies around year 2000 indicated nitric oxide was of paramount importance due to the increased shear stress in liver sinusoids. On the basis of experimental liver surgery on pigs, this thesis suggests that it is the composition of the portal blood and not the flow itself which is the most important stimulus to initiate and uphold liver regeneration. The thesis also contains a paper outlining a historical review of liver regeneration research in mainly large animal models and a new statistical method to analyse real-time measurements of hemodynamic variables in time series.