Nuclear magnetic resonance studies of biological systems: Applications to liver preservation and metabolism in cultured pituitary tumor cells

This study centers on applications of both 31P and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to two different biological systems. The first application utilizes 31P NMR to study mobile phospholipids in the MMQ cell line, a pituitary tumor cell line. These measurements characterize membrane phospholipids thought to be part of a RNA-proteolipid complex unique to cellular transformation. The second application utilizes both 31P and 13C spectroscopy to study liver preservation and transplantation an a rat model. In this work, several questions were addressed: (1) to what extent do successful preservation solutions slow ATP breakdown? (2) can clinically successful preservation conditions ameliorate total nucleotide breakdown? (3) to what extent is energy reconstitution following cold storage correlated with transport success? and (4) can any spectroscopic parameter be used as a diagnostic indicator of tissue viability?