Lipid Concentration in Cryoprecipitated Plasma Used as Perfusion Fluid for Kidney Preservation

Abstract

Concentration of lipid was investigated in 11 portions of pooled human plasma prepared as described by Belzer et al. (1968). A significant fall was found in the concentration of cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholi-pids and P-lipoproteins. Total proteins and protein fractions were not altered apart from a significant fall in fibrinogen concentration. There was an increase in the concentration of esterified fatty acids and free glycerol.

Cryoprecipitation and the use of additives separately caused modifications in the same direction and of the same magnitude, apart from the concentration of fibrinogen, which decreased only on cryoprecipitation, and the concentration of free glycerol, which showed a significanlly smaller rise when no additives were used, while esterified fatty acids in this case showed no change. The electrophoretic pattern of lipoproteins and proteins was unaltered. It is concluded that the decisive factor for lipid concentration in the Belzer procedure is the filtration, whereas cryoprecipitation and the use of additives play only a minor role.

A few perfusion experiments were carried out in this study using canine kidneys. No rising perfusion pressure was observed, not even in experiments using unprepared plasma. In all cases, lipid was demonstrated in the renal tubules. When unprepared plasma was used as perfusion fluid lipid droplets were also found in the capillary vessels of the glomeruli. Using immunofluorescence microscopy, it was impossible to demonstrate that the lipid droplets were composed of β-lipoproteins.