Hormonal resuscitation and p38 MAP kinase inhibition to enhance quality of cadaveric donor organs for transplantation

脑死亡捐献者的心脏、肺、肝、肾和胰腺等器官的移植主要受到捐献器官短缺的限制。现在人们认识到，多达25%（四分之一）的潜在可用供体器官在脑死亡后丢失，这是由于脑死亡后器官的快速退化。有证据表明，这种恶化是由于这些器官的正常功能所必需的正常激素的损失。在这个项目中，我们将使用我们在实验室建立的脑死亡猪模型来检查激素替代对用于移植的器官功能的影响。我们还将测试一种新药，旨在保护捐赠器官在器官切除和移植之间的时期。如果成功，这些治疗有可能显着增加器官移植的数量，并改善这些移植受体的结果。在澳大利亚和新西兰，捐赠器官数量增加25%将导致每年约有220多人接受这些挽救生命的手术。

The transplantation of organs such as the heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas from brain-dead donors is limited primarily by the shortage of donor organs. It is now recognised that as many as 25% (one in four) potentially usuable donor organs are lost after brain death due to the rapid deterioration that occurs in organs after brain death. There is evidence that this deterioration is due to loss of the normal hormones that are essential to the normal functioning of these organs. In this project, we will use a pig model of brain death that we have extablished in our laboratory to examine the effects of hormone replacement on the function of organs that are used for transplantation. We will also test a novel drug aimed at protecting donor organs during the period between removal of the organ and transplantation. If successful, these treatments have the potential to markedly increase the numbers of organ transplants and to improve the outcomes for recipients of these transplants. In the Australian and New Zealand setting, a 25% increase in the number of donor organs would results in approximately 220 more people per year receiving these life-saving operations.