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Objective: To investigate the surgical techniques and appropriate perioperative management for ensuring successful orthotopic liver transplantation (ROLT) in rats., Methods: Based on the double-cuff technique of Kamada, we modified the surgical techniques of separation, perfusion and cold preservation of the donor liver, shearing and anastomosis of the suprahepatic vena cava with optimized postoperative infusion protocols and animal care., Results: Two hundred and seventy rats underwent ROLT and a learning curve of the success rate was built to reflect the improvement of techniques. The learning curve showed steep improvements over the exploration stage, breakthrough stage and maturation stage, and the success rates increased sharply over time (0%, 71.1%, and 94.5%, respectively) until finally reaching over 90%. The shearing and anastomosis of the suprahepatic vena cava remained the most critical and difficult techniques in ROLT modeling., Conclusion: Proficient microsurgical techniques and meticulous nursing can reduce postoperative complications, enhance operational success rate and extend the survival time after ROLT.

Objective: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of Nusap1 in hepatical carcinoma., Methods: The expression of Nusap1 protein in 61 specimens of hepatical carcinoma was examined by immunohistochemistry. Based on the levels of Nusap1 expression, the 61 specimens were divided into a high Nusap1 expression group and a low Nusap1 expression group. The correlation between Nusap1 expression with clinicopathologic features and prognosis of hepatical carcinoma was analyzed., Results: The rate of high Nusap1 expression was 54.1% in hepatical carcinoma. The rate of high Nusap1 expression was 21.3% in noncarcinoma, with significant difference between the 2 groups (P<0.01).Nusap1 overexpression had significant correlation with histological differentiation, tumor size, liver cirrhosis, lymphatic metastasis, tumor thrombi and early recurrence (P<0.05), but not with sex, age, AFP level, tumor number, TNM classification and tumor encapsulation (P>0.05). Survival analysis suggested that the 6 month and 12 month noncarcinoma survival rate was significantly lower in the high Nusap1 expression group [33.3% (11/33), 17.9% (5/33)] than that in the low Nusap1 expression group [89.3% (25/28), 53.6% (15/28); P<0.005]., Conclusion: Nusap1 is overexpressed in hepatical carcinoma and is a valuable prognostic factor for hepatical carcinoma.