title: Technique for retransplanting heterotopic heart grafts in mice.
abstract: Removal of a transplanted organ from its original recipient and retransplanting it into a new host is an important method to study the role of the graft in the rejection process. Here we describe a novel technique of heart retransplantation in the mouse. In this technique, a primarily vascularized heart graft is anastomosed to the abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava of a syngeneic or immunodeficient allogeneic mouse, using standard techniques. Either 10 or 70 days later, the same graft is retransplanted into the abdomen of a second mouse by end-to-side anastomosis of the donor (first recipient) aortic and inferior vena cava's cuffs to the second recipient's abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava, respectively. A greater than 90% success rate was achieved by using this microsurgical technique. This method should be useful for studying intragraft factors, such as ischemia-reperfusion injury and donor antigen-presenting cells, on the outcomes of transplantations.
authors.affiliation: Section of Nephrology and Section of Immunobiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 065420, USA. qi.li@yale.edu
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yinong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tai
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Geetha
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chalasani
authors.forename: Zhenhua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Marc I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Lorber
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tellides
authors.forename: Fadi G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Lakkis
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000473:pathology; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000601:surgery / Q000637:transplantation; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D006085:Graft Survival; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D008866:Microsurgery; D015428:Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / Q000209:etiology; D013156:Splenectomy; D013997:Time Factors; D016042:Transplantation, Heterotopic / Q000379:methods*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014185:Transplantation, Isogeneic; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000601:surgery / Q000637:transplantation