Orthotopic aortic transplantation in mice: a new model of allograft arteriosclerosis.
BACKGROUND
Graft arteriosclerosis is a major cause of death after allotransplantation of organs such as the heart or the kidney. Aortic allotransplantation in mice is a useful experimental model to study the mechanisms of this pathology. However, the conventional heterotopic aortic model is limited by a high morbidity and is technically difficult to perform. We developed a new simple method for aortic transplantation in mice.


METHODS
The infrarenal aorta from the donor mouse was anastomosed to the recipient's aorta at the same position using a sleeve technique. Orthotopic aortic transplantation was performed in 45 mice, 5 isografts and 40 allografts. No immunosuppression was given, and the mice were killed at day 15 or 30. The graft was examined macroscopically, and several histologic sections were made.


RESULTS
The overall survival rate was 78%. The incidence of thrombosis was low (4 cases) compared with previously published series. Histology of aortas revealed typical aspects of rejection in the allografts with a chronic picture at day 30. No significant lesion was observed in isografts.


CONCLUSIONS
We have developed a model of orthotopic aortic transplantation in mice. This new model is easy to carry out and has a low incidence of thrombosis, probably because there is no size discrepancy between donor and recipient aortic segment.
Dambrin
C
C
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Institut Louis Bugnard, Toulouse, France.
Calise
D
D
Pieraggi
M T
MT
Thiers
J C
JC
Thomsen
M
M
D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006083:Graft Occlusion, Vascular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014185:Transplantation, Isogeneic