Abstract
Objective: To investigate the changes in serum and urinary neopterin concentrations over time after partial hepatectomy in rats, and to find out if neopterin can be used as a marker of immunological response during the regulation of liver regeneration.
Design: Randomised experiment.
Setting: University hospital, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Subjects: 84 male Wistar rats weighing about 200g.
Interventions: Partial hepatectomy (67%) or sham operation (n ≥ 42 in each group).
Main outcome measures: Serum and urinary neopterin concentrations measured by radioimmunoassay preoperatively and on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 10 postoperatively.
Results: Serum neopterin concentrations increased and reached their peak on days 5 and 7 after partial hepatectomy. The urinary neopterin concentration showed a similar trend, but with a more pronounced increase on days 5 and 7.
Conclusions: Serum and urinary neopterin concentrations can be used as markers of activated cell-mediated immunity in rats after partial hepatectomy.