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Updated: May 21, 2026
Renal Subcapsular Transplantation of 2'-Deoxyguanosine-Treated Murine Embryonic Thymus in Nude Mice
Published on: July 19, 2019
A model of isolated, vascular whole thymus transplantation in nude rats
1Department of Kidney Transplantation, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Background:
We used a model of vascularized thymus lobes as a whole isolated organ transplantation in rats.
Materials And Methods:
Male Fisher rats (F344, RT11v1; n = 10) and male homozygous Rowett nude rats (rnu/rnu; n = 10) were used as donors and recipients, respectively. Both vascular lobes of the thymus as a whole isolated organ were heterotopically transplanted to the neck of recipients. The right common carotid artery of the donor thymus was anastomosed end-to-end to the homonymous artery of the recipient. The anterior vena cava and the left brachiocephalic vein of the donor thymus were anastomosed end-to-side to the right and left external jugular veins of the recipient, respectively. Histological examination was used to monitor graft viability; graft function was assessed using flow cytometry (FCM) and immunologic effects by skin grafts in vivo.
Results:
All recipients survived. Preparation of the donors and recipients took 35.6 ± 5.5 minutes and 60.3 ± 15.1 minutes, respectively. The blood supply to the thymus graft was patent. Histology of the thymus on postoperative days 14, 56, and 112 revealed viable grafts with preserved microarchitecture. FCM analysis showed 37.18 ± 11.1% CD3+ T cells at day 21 after transplantation. Skin grafts from F344 and Rowett rats survived 8-10 and more than 30 days, respectively, whereas all third-party Sprague Dawley grafts were rejected within 5 days.
Conclusion:
We developed a novel model of isolated, direct vascularized whole thymus transplantation in nude rats, in which both lobes of the fully vascularized thymus were harvested en bloc for successful transplantation.
