A Modified Surgical Technique for Kidney Transplantation in Mice

Kidney transplantation in mice is a complicated and challenging surgery procedure. There are very few publications demonstrating the key steps of this operation. Therefore, this article introduces the technique and points out the surgical caveats associated with this operation. In addition, important modifications in comparison to the conventional procedure are demonstrated. Firstly, a patch of the abdominal aorta is cut and prepared so that the proximal bifurcations of the renal artery, including the ureteral artery are transected together with the donor kidney en bloc. This reduces the risk of a ureter necrosis and avoids the development of a urinary tract occlusion. Secondly, a new method of the vascular anastomosis is demonstrated that allows the operator to flexibly increase or decrease the size of the anastomosis after renal transplant reperfusion has already been initiated. This avoids the development of vessel strictures and intraabdominal bleeding. Thirdly, a technique that enables the anastomosis of the delicate donor ureter and the recipient bladder that does not cause a trauma is shown. Adopting this protocol can shorten the operation time and reduces the damage to the recipient's bladder, thereby significantly increasing the operation success rate for the recipient mice.