We have demonstrated that the sinusoidal lining cell injury sustained by rat liver allografts during hypothermic storage is a critical determinant of graft viability. The present study was designed to examine the effect of donor nutritional status on hepatic microcirculation and graft function. Rat livers from four nutritional groups (group I, fasted; group II, fed; group III, intraperitoneal glucose; and group IV, fed plus intraperitoneal glucose) were excised and stored for 24 hr in Marshall's isotonic citrate solution. Then the livers were perfused under anoxic conditions with trypan blue. The percentage of nonviable SLC in each group was 26.7 +/- 8.1, 24.9 +/- 7.9, 17.6 +/- 6.9, and 5.9 +/- 1.9 in groups I, II, III, and IV respectively; i.e., there was a significant improvement in SLC viability with nutritional repletion in group IV. Electron microscopy was performed on livers from groups I and IV following 30-hr preservation in University of Wisconsin solution and after 16-hr preservation in Marshall's isotonic citrate solution. Biopsies were taken at the end of storage and after 1 hr of reperfusion at 37 degrees C. At the end of preservation group IV livers contained glycogen and had much more normal liver ultrastructure than group I livers. After reperfusion there was partial recovery of normal SLC morphology in both groups and depletion of glycogen in group IV. Liver function was studied on the isolated perfused rat liver system at 37 degrees C following 30-hr storage in UW solution. Transaminase release into the perfusate was significantly lower in nutritionally repleted livers than in livers from fasted animals. A significant reduction in perfusate platelet count occurred only in livers from fasted animals. The results show that nutritional repletion can reduce the injury of cold preservation to both hepatocytes and endothelial cells and improve liver function in the postpreservation period.