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Orthotopic aortic transplantation in mice: a new model of allograft arteriosclerosis
C Dambrin1, D Calise, M T Pieraggi
1Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Institut Louis Bugnard, Toulouse, France.
Background:
Graft arteriosclerosis is a major cause of death after allotransplantation of organs such as the heart or the kidney. Aortic allotransplantation in mice is a useful experimental model to study the mechanisms of this pathology. However, the conventional heterotopic aortic model is limited by a high morbidity and is technically difficult to perform. We developed a new simple method for aortic transplantation in mice.
Methods:
The infrarenal aorta from the donor mouse was anastomosed to the recipient's aorta at the same position using a sleeve technique. Orthotopic aortic transplantation was performed in 45 mice, 5 isografts and 40 allografts. No immunosuppression was given, and the mice were killed at day 15 or 30. The graft was examined macroscopically, and several histologic sections were made.
Results:
The overall survival rate was 78%. The incidence of thrombosis was low (4 cases) compared with previously published series. Histology of aortas revealed typical aspects of rejection in the allografts with a chronic picture at day 30. No significant lesion was observed in isografts.
Conclusions:
We have developed a model of orthotopic aortic transplantation in mice. This new model is easy to carry out and has a low incidence of thrombosis, probably because there is no size discrepancy between donor and recipient aortic segment.