title: Establishment of a novel volume-loaded heterotopic heart transplantation model in rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Non-volume-loaded (NL) donor hearts in the heterotopic heart transplantation model in rats undergo atrophy and thrombus formation in graft cavities after transplantation. The present study aimed to establish a novel model with volume-loaded donor hearts.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used Sprague-Dawley rats as donors and recipients. We established an NL model by anastomosing the donor ascending aorta and pulmonary artery end-to-side to the recipient abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava, respectively, and ligating the superior and inferior vena cava on the donor right atrium. The method of the volume-loaded (VL) model was the same as described above, except we performed an anastomosis of the donor left atrium to the recipient abdominal aorta to allow volume loading of the donor's left ventricle. We assessed the characteristics of the grafts by the surgical success rate, echocardiography, and histologic evaluation between the two models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Echocardiography showed that donor left ventricle in VL models was volume loaded and had normal systolic and diastolic function compared with the NL models. The mean weight of NL hearts was significantly less than that of VL hearts. Morphologic observation revealed that thrombus formation in donor heart cavities in NL model was significantly higher than that in the VL model. The area of cardiomyocytes per high-power field in the NL model was significantly lower than that in the VL model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We provide a novel VL heterotopic heart transplantation model in rats, in which hemodynamic performance of grafts is close to the normal cardiac physiologic situation; thus, the novel model will be more suitable for clinical research.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Peihao
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Xiaoliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Guoqiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Junwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Tonghai
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Qiongzhen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Huamei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Zhihai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Peng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001284:Atrophy / Q000517:prevention & control; D004452:Echocardiography; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000517:prevention & control; D016042:Transplantation, Heterotopic