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Updated: May 31, 2026
Murine Heterotopic Heart Transplant Technique
Published on: July 8, 2014
Effect of CD4+ memory T cells on rejection response of ectopic heart transplantation in mice
1Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital, Xiaman University, Xiamen, Fujian, China. yongxiang_zhao@126.com
Background:
CD4(+) memory T cells mediate resistance of the body to infection by exotic pathogens. This study investigated the effects of alloreactive CD4(+) memory T cells on acute graft rejection responses toward ectopic hearts in the abdominal cavities of mice.
Methods:
BALB/C mice were used as recipients and C57BL/6 mice as donors. The animals in the CD4(+) memory T-cell group were infused with CD4(+) memory T cells, those in the other group were infused with nonsensitized CD4(+) T cells, and those in the control group received no CD4(+) T cells. Heart transplantation was performed at 3 weeks after the cell infusion with cyclosporine administered beginning 1 day before transplantation via intraperitoneal injection.
Results:
The survival among the CD4(+) memory T-cell group was significantly shorter than that of the nonsensitized CD4(+) T-cell group or the control group (P < .01; n = 10). There was no significant difference between the survival times of the nonsensitized CD4(+) T-cell group and the control group (P > .05; n = 10). On the 5th day after the transplantation of heart, the histologic grades of the nonsensitized CD4(+) T-cell and the blank control group were lower than those of the CD4(+) memory T-cell group. There was no significant difference in the histologic grades between the nonsensitized CD4(+) T-cell and control groups.
Conclusion:
The CD4(+) memory T cells that mediate acute rejection of allografted hearts are insensitive to cyclosporine.
