title: Novel cuff design to facilitate anastomosis of small vessels during cervical heterotopic heart transplantation in rats.
abstract: Cervical heterotopic heart transplantation in rodents is a useful tool for studying transplantation immunology. However, end-to-end anastomosis of small-diameter vessels by using standard microsurgical technique is technically difficult and can require prolonged graft ischemia. A novel cuff system was designed from polyethylene tubing to allow anastomosis of vessels with internal luminal diameters of 0.3 to 0.9 mm. Key features include a spring-like adjustable lumen to facilitate vessel eversion, a barb to hold vessel ends in place after eversion, and a handling system that allows easy manipulation and stabilization of cuffs by a single operator. After a training period, a single operator performed a series of 8 transplants in which the mean warm ischemic time of grafts was 8.5 ± 2.9 min. Here we provide a detailed description of how to construct and perform end-to-end vessel anastomosis by using our novel cuff system. The discussion of the technique is supplemented with tips learned during the process of developing a reliable experimental model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Tathyana F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Fensterer
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perez-Abadia
authors.affiliation: Departments of Surgery, Physiology and Biophysics, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. cjmald01@louisville.edu.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maldonado
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D004867:Equipment Design; D006085:Graft Survival; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D059032:Learning Curve; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D009048:Motor Skills; D020959:Polyethylene; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D013523:Surgical Equipment; D013997:Time Factors; D016042:Transplantation, Heterotopic; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation*; D052096:Warm Ischemia
chemical_list: D020959:Polyethylene