Experimental microarterial grafts: freeze-dried heterografts versus autografts

Segments of the femoral artery from New Zealand white rabbits were removed and freeze-dried. They wer then used as a graft for a defect in the femoral artery of a Sprague-Dawley rat. The femoral artery on the other side of this recipient rat had a similar grafting procedure using a segment of its own femoral artery, thus acting as a control. The patency rate of the freeze-dried heterografts was comparable to the autografts, but the former showed a high incidence of aneurysm formation as a result of immune rejection as supported by histopathological and scanning electron microscopy studies.