A morphological, biochemical, and radioautographic study in rats

Abstract

Splenectomy has long been an establishmd surgical procedure in various conditions, including trauma. Because total splenectomy has often been correlated with sepsis, every surgeon tries to preserve as much of the injured spleen as possible. Contradictory reports have been published as to whether regeneration of the remaining splenic tissue is possible. In the present study, 28 Sprague-Dawley rats (≈ 100 g) were divided into four groups. They underwent two-thirds partial splenectomy; the remaining splenic tissue was examined after 1 day, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months postoperatively. The following parameters were determined: weight, length, and protein and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content of the remaining spleen. The incorporation of ³H-thymidine into the remaining spleen tissue was also measured. Histology and radioautography were studied in parallel. Results were compared with control animals that were operated upon but with no partial splenectomy. One day, 1 week, and 1 month following partial splenectomy, a slight increase in weight, length, protein, and DNA content as well as incorporation of the radioisotope into cellular DNA was found. By 3 months after the operation, there was no difference in the above parameters between the experimental animals and controls.

Radioautographs indicated that most of the cells containing the isotope were situated in the perinodular areas in the red pulp, accompanied by an increased number of inflammatory cells. We found this cell proliferation mainly along the cut surface of the spleen. The slight increase that was found in all the parameters examined up to 1 month after partial splenectomy is an inflammatory response and not regeneration of the spleen.