Design of preservation solutions for universal tissue preservation in vivo: Demonstration of efficacy in preclinical models of profound hypothermic cardiac arrest

The design of new solutions for the universal preservation of tissues is a quest that would facilitate multiple-organ harvesting from organ donors since current preservation solutions do not provide optimum preservation for all organs. In contrast, a new approach to bloodless surgery using hypothermic blood substitution (HBS) to protect the whole body during profound hypothermic circulatory arrest (clinical suspended animation) has focused on the development of a hybrid solution design with the objective of providing universal tissue preservation. In this study, a porcine model of uncontrolled lethal hemorrhage was employed. A combination of two new solutions, maintenance and purge, was used in a cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) technique to affect profound hypothermia and prolonged cardiac arrest (60 min), with resuscitation after surgical repair of the vascular deficit induced to affect exsanguination. After rewarming and recovery, pigs were monitored for 6 weeks for neurological deficits, cognitive function (learning new skills), and organ dysfunction. All the normothermic control animals died (n = 10), whereas 90% (9 of 10) in the HBS group survived ( P < .05). Moreover, all of the survivors were neurologically intact, displayed normal learning and memory capability, and had no long-term organ dysfunction. Histology of brains after 6 weeks revealed no ischemic damage in marked contrast to control animals, which all showed diffuse ischemic damage. The demonstrated efficacy of these synthetic, acellular HBS solutions for protection of all the tissues in the body during clinical suspended animation justifies their consideration for multiple-organ harvesting from cadaveric and living donors.