title: Effect of single-dose administration of FK-506 on allogeneic limb transplantation in rats: is there an optimal timing of its administration?
abstract: Although a number of experimental studies have demonstrated that high-dose administration of FK-506 induces the success of limb allogeneic transplantation in rats, some of them have reported occurrences of lethal side effects. Therefore, a more effective regimen with lower-dose administration of this agent must be developed. The objective of this study was to determine an optimal timing of a single-dose administration of FK-506 in rat limb allografts. In the current study, orthotopic hindlimb transplantations were performed using major histocompatibility mismatched pairs of inbred rats. The rats were classified into five groups on the basis of the different time schedules of FK-506 administration as follows: syngeneic group, Lewis-to-Lewis transplantation; control group, ACI-to-Lewis without any immunotherapy; day 0 group, recipients treated with a single-dose administration of FK-506 (5 mg/kg of body weight, intramuscular injection) at day 0 postoperatively; day 1 group, with a single-dose administration of FK-506 at day 1 postoperatively; and day 2 group, with a single-dose administration of FK-506 at day 2 postoperatively. The median graft survival time in each group (n = 5) was 9 days in the control group, 19 days in the day 0 group, 49 days in the day 1 group, and 42 days in the day 2 group. The values in the day 1 and the day 2 groups significantly increased compared with those in other groups. For prolonged survival of a grafted limb, a single-dose administration of FK-506 is more effective at 24 to 48 hours after transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Taketoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gohda
authors.forename: Norimasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Chika
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Minami
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000473:pathology; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011912:Rats, Inbred ACI; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014185:Transplantation, Isogeneic
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016559:Tacrolimus