Succinate accumulation drives ischaemia reperfusion injury during organ transplantation
Publication: Nature Metabolism
Jack L. Martin, Ana S. H. Costa, Anja V. Gruszczyk, Timothy E. Beach, Fay M. Allen, Hiran A. Prag, Elizabeth C. Hinchy, Krishnaa Mahbubani, Mazin Hamed, Laura Tronci, Efterpi Nikitopoulou, Andrew M. James, Thomas Krieg, Alan J. Robinson, Margaret M. Huang, Stuart T. Caldwell, Angela Logan, Laura Pala, Richard C. Hartley, Christian Frezza, Kourosh Saeb-Parsy, Michael P. Murphy
30 September 2019
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Summary:
During retrieval of kidneys for transplant, there is inevitably a period of time when the organ is without blood flow but still warm (warm ischaemia). A human kidney cannot sustain this for long. During warm ischaemia, a metabolite called succinate builds up. When blood flow is restored, then counter-intuitively, the kidney tissue is damaged with the arrival of oxygenated blood. A drug was tested that ameliorates this damage. This research shows how the function and life span of a transplanted organ can be improved.