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DNA fragments were amplified by PCR from all tested strains of Aeromonas hydrophila, A. caviae, and A. sobria with primers designed based on sequence alignment of all lipase, phospholipase C, and phospholipase A1 genes and the cytotonic enterotoxin gene, all of which have been reported to have the consensus region of the putative lipase substrate-binding domain. All strains showed lipase activity, and all amplified DNA fragments contained a nucleotide sequence corresponding to the substrate-binding domain. Thirty-five distinct nucleotide sequence patterns and 15 distinct deduced amino acid sequence patterns were found in the amplified DNA fragments from 59 A. hydrophila strains. The deduced amino acid sequences of the amplified DNA fragments from A. caviae and A. sobria strains had distinctive amino acids, suggesting a species-specific sequence in each organism. Furthermore, the amino acid sequence patterns appear to differ between clinical and environmental isolates among A. hydrophila strains. Some strains whose nucleotide sequences were identical to one another in the amplified region showed an identical DNA fingerprinting pattern by repetitive extragenic palindromic sequence-PCR genotyping. These results suggest that A. hydrophila, and also A. caviae and A. sobria strains, have a gene encoding a protein with lipase activity. Homologs of the gene appear to be widely distributed in Aeromonas strains, probably associating with the evolutionary genetic difference between clinical and environmental isolates of A. hydrophila. Additionally, the distinctive nucleotide sequences of the genes could be attributed to the genotype of each strain, suggesting that their analysis may be helpful in elucidating the genetic heterogeneity of Aeromonas.

In order to investigate the applicability of liver transplantation after warm Ischemia, a partial auxiliary auto-transplantation of the liver after 30 min of warm Ischemia was carried out in 9 mongrel dogs. Among them, 6 dogs survived longer than 7 days. Liver functions, blood coagulability and histological changes were investigated before and after the transplantation. Serum GOT, LDH, and OPT levels were elevated immediately after transplantation, and returned to normal within a few days. Hemostatic tests also showed significant abnormalities after transplantation. Although PT and thrombotest became normal within a week, PTT and antithrombin III remained slightly abnormal for longer periods. Microscopically, vacuolization and degeneration of hepatocytes were observed after transplantation but they recovered completely within 4 weeks. Based on these results, it could be said that the livers subjected to warm ischemia for 30 min ischemia were still acceptable for auxiliary transplantation.liver transplantation ; liver function test ; hemostatic test Recently, liver transplantation has been carried out in many countries (Starzl et al. 1982;Mac Dougall and Williams 1983: Pichlmayr et al. 1983;Bismuth and Houssin 1984), and its indications have been expanded. In liver transplantation, massive hemorrhaging due to abnormal blood coagulation, in addition to hepatic dysfunction, is very troublesome. Actually more than 50 liter of whole blood, a large amount of platelets and fresh frozen plasma are often required during an operation. When the liver is removed from the donor, warm ischemia and consequent damage of the liver may occur as results of a decreased blood pressure or heart failure during the removal. As a rule, a liver with warm ischemia is thought to be not acceptable for transplantation (Starzl et al. 1964). However, if these livers are transplantable, the number of donors would increase greatly.

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