Simultaneous orthotopic liver-kidney transplantation with hepatic arterial reconstitution in rats.
Although combined liver-kidney (LK) transplantation has been effectively used in patients with end-stage liver disease and concurrent renal failure, a small animal model has been rarely described because of the technical difficulties. Herein, we have described techniques of a modified simultaneous LK transplantation model in rats. We have modified the techniques to perform 47 combined LK transplants in rats with reconstructed hepatic artery and renal vessels by a microvascular sleeve method and an end-to-end anastomosis technique without cross-clamping the vena cava and abdominal aorta, respectively. An average donor operation time was 34.4+/-6.3 min with cold ischemia times of 49.7+/-6.5 min and 61.3+/-4.1 min for liver and kidney grafts, respectively. The total time for recipient operation was 96.8+/-9.4 min with a 4-wk survival rate of 92.3% (36/39). A cumulative hepatic and renal arterial patency rate reached 90.2% (37/41). Normal grafts function tests were observed within the first week post-transplant, as well as normal histopathology studies of the 2 grafts in wk 4 post-transplant. Our method proves to be practical and may contribute to a wider use of the model in the studies of allograft rejection and tolerance induction during combined LK transplantation.
Ma
Yi
Y
Organ Transplantation Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China. anhuimayi2002@163.com
Guo
Zhiyong
Z
D000818:Animals; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000601:surgery*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012077:Renal Artery / Q000601:surgery; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*