Figure 13. Proposed underlying mechanism of BD-induced remote cardiac organ damage through DAMPs-inflammatory signaling pathway.

(A–B) The propose mechanism of BD-induced release of endogenous DAMPs that elicit the inflammatory cytokines is based on the results of present study in both in vitro and animal studies. BD = brain death; DAMPs = damage-associated molecular patterns; HMGB = high mobility group box 1; BD_EX = brain death extraction; TLR = toll-like receptor; IL = interleukin; TNF-α = tumor necrosis factor alpha; IFN-γ = interferon gamma; iNOS = inducible nitric oxide synthase; NF-κB = nuclear factor-κB;