title: A simplified cuff technique for abdominal aortic transplantation in mice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Allograft arteriopathy is still a leading cause of late organ failure. The aortic allograft model in mice has been used to study chronic rejection and has given useful information in the development of graft arteriosclerosis. However, the technical difficulties of small vessel anastomoses still continue to limit its widespread use. We introduce a new simple method for aortic transplantation in mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  The descending aorta or infrarenal aorta from the donor mouse was anastomosed to the infrarenal aorta using a cuff technique. Aortic transplantation was performed in 30 mice, 10 isografts and 20 allografts. No immunosuppression was administered, and the recipients were sacrificed at day 28. The grafts were histologically analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Implantation of grafts could be completed in an average of 23 min. There was no technical failure in all 60 anastomoses. The overall survival rate was 93.3%. Histology of aortas revealed typical aspects of chronic rejection in the allografts at day 28. No significant lesion was observed in isografts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have developed an innovative, stable, and simple aortic transplantation model in mice, which is useful for vascular research in transplantation and beyond.
authors.affiliation: Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Hepatic Surgery Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Esckilsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina; Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Members of the South Carolina Investigators in Transplantation (SCIT), Charleston, SC.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.affiliation: Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Hepatic Surgery Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina; Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Members of the South Carolina Investigators in Transplantation (SCIT), Charleston, SC. Electronic address: nadigsn@musc.edu.
authors.forename: Satish N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Nadig
mesh_terms: D064591:Allografts / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation; D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D000818:Animals; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000473:pathology; D064596:Isografts / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C / Q000601:surgery*; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL / Q000601:surgery*; D023421:Models, Animal; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000379:methods; D014185:Transplantation, Isogeneic / Q000379:methods
keywords: Aortic; Cuff technique; Model; Mouse; Transplantation