Editorial
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World J Gastroenterol. Jan 14, 2013; 19(2): 147-154
Published online Jan 14, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i2.147
History, ethics, advantages and limitations of experimental models for hepatic ablation
Seok Ling Ong, Gianpiero Gravante, Matthew S Metcalfe, Ashley R Dennison
Seok Ling Ong, Gianpiero Gravante, Matthew S Metcalfe, Ashley R Dennison, Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester LE5 4PW, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Ong SL, Gravante G, Metcalfe MS, Dennison AR were responsible for the acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content and final approval of the version to be published; Ong SL, Dennison AR were responsible for substantial contributions to conception and design.
Correspondence to: Dr. Gianpiero Gravante, Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Leicester General Hospital, Gwendolen Road, Leicester LE5 4PW, United Kingdom. ggravante@hotmail.com
Telephone: +44-116-2588244 Fax: +44-116-2584708
Received: March 19, 2012
Revised: September 10, 2012
Accepted: September 19, 2012
Published online: January 14, 2013
Abstract

Numerous techniques developed in medicine require careful evaluation to determine their indications, limitations and potential side effects prior to their clinical use. At present this generally involves the use of animal models which is undesirable from an ethical standpoint, requires complex and time-consuming authorization, and is very expensive. This process is exemplified in the development of hepatic ablation techniques, starting experiments on explanted livers and progressing to safety and efficacy studies in living animals prior to clinical studies. The two main approaches used are ex vivo isolated non-perfused liver models and in vivo animal models. Ex vivo non perfused models are less expensive, easier to obtain but not suitable to study the heat sink effect or experiments requiring several hours. In vivo animal models closely resemble clinical subjects but often are expensive and have small sample sizes due to ethical guidelines. Isolated perfused ex vivo liver models have been used to study drug toxicity, liver failure, organ transplantation and hepatic ablation and combine advantages of both previous models.

Keywords: Liver; Ablation; Experiment; Ex vivo; In vivo; Perfusion