Brain death donors are frequently used for transplantation. Previous studies showed that brain death (BD) negatively affects the immunological and inflammatory status of both liver and kidney. Objective. Therefore we studied the inflammatory and morphological changes in donor small intestine after brain death induction. Methods. BD was induced in rats by slow inflation of an epidural balloon catheter. Three groups (n = 6) were compared, 1 hour, 4 hours BID and sham operated controls. The liver was used as a reference to confirm our previous findings. Intestinal injury...

Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (ALPS) is generally the result of a mutation in genes associated with apoptosis, like Fas, Fas ligand, Casp 8 and Casp 10. As a result, the normal homeostasis of T- and B-lymphocytes is disturbed and a proliferation of polyclonal T lymphocytes occurs. This leads to hepatosplenomegaly and lymphadenopathy and in most patients also to autoimmune phenomena like anemia and thrombocytopenia. The proliferating T cells are TCRalphabeta and/or TCRgammadelta positive but lack both CD4 and CD8. Hence they are termed double negative (DN) T cells. In...