Glutathione Synthesis during the Rewarming of Rat Hepatocytes Preserved in the University of Wisconsin Solution

In this study, we used isolated rat hepatocytes to investigate the effect of nucleoside content of the preserved cells on the ability to synthesize glutathione (GSH) during the rewarming process. We cold-stored hepatocytes in University of Wisconsin (UW) solution (72 h, 0°C, N 2) without nucleosides and with the addition of 5 mM adenosine or 10 mM ATP. After 72 h of cold storage, we determined the GSH synthesis rate and the ATP content of the cells. We found a GSH synthesis rate similar to that of freshly isolated hepatocytes only in the group of cells cold-stored with 10 mM ATP. When we tested the cellular ATP concentrations, we found that controls and preserved cells with 10 mM ATP showed a similar value of ATP during the rewarming step. Our results suggested that the incorporation of ATP in the UW solution increased the ATP content and the rate of GSH synthesis of cold-stored hepatocytes during rewarming.