ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the impacts of long cold ischemic preservation time on the ultrastructural changes of donor heart and to provide the data for expanding the heart donor pool. Methods Heart was obtained from brain dead donor and preserved in the the University of Wisconsin (UW) solution at 4℃. Cardiac tissues were harvested at different time points of cold ischemic preservation (6, 8, 10, 12, 14 h) and observed under electron miscroscope. Results Donor heart did not have significant pathologied and ultrastructural changes when cold ischemic preservation time was 6 h. After that, time related impairment of myocardia and endothelium of coronary artery was seen.When ischemic time was longer than 12 h, focal myocardial necrosis and complete loss of the endothelium were detected. Conclusions Myocardial ultrastructure is an important index to evaluate the donor heart quality. Heart, which underwent 10 h of cold ischemia preservation time, causes no significant irreversible and pathological ultrastructural changes, and could be used for heart transplantation. When ischemia time was over 10 h, the donor heart presented with irreversible change and was nolonger unsuitable for transplantation.
