Perfusion may make donated livers biologically younger

Hospitals increasingly use perfusion machines to keep donated livers functioning outside the body for around six to 12 hours, pumping nutrients through the organ and clearing waste before transplantation. The approach gives surgeons more time to evaluate organs that may otherwise be considered too risky, and recent research suggests it may also make livers biologically younger at a molecular level.

Researchers including Jesse Poganik, Heidi Yeh and Alban Longchamp used aging clocks to compare donated livers preserved on ice with those placed on perfusion devices. In one experiment, they studied 37 samples taken from 19 donated livers. A later analysis examined 208 samples from 103 donated livers and found that machine-perfused organs appeared biologically younger even after transplantation stresses increased biological age.

The team linked perfusion to shifts in pathways tied to inflammation, tissue structure and cellular cleanup. Longchamp said pumping organs at 34 degrees with oxygen and nutrients reversed biological age, while Poganik estimated that, after accounting for chronological age, the difference was on the order of 30%. Researchers hope the findings could support better tests for organ health and new treatments to repair organs that might otherwise be discarded.