Surgical technique for orthotopic small bowel transplantation in a rat

• Main Author: Necdet Özçay
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2017-01-01
• Series: Indian Journal of Transplantation
• Subjects: Organ transplantation research; rat model; small bowel transplantation
• Online Access: http://www.ijtonline.in/article.asp?issn=2212-0017;year=2017;volume=11;issue=2;spage=66;epage=69;aulast=Özçay

Objectives: Presently, the results of small bowel transplantation (SBT) procedures are far from ideal. Problems such as rejection, sepsis and graft-versus host disease are still encountered after SBT. Here, we describe a refined rat model of SBT for researchers who wish to investigate these complications. Materials and Methods: Sixty male outbred Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were used for the study. Orthotopic small bowel transplantations were performed. An immunosuppressive regimen was not implemented and the recipients were monitored for seven days. If the recipient survived until the experimental end point, the transplantation was deemed to be successful. Recipient survival shorter than seven days was considered to be a technical failure. Results: The mean operation times for donor and recipients were 40 minutes (40 ± 5 min) and 65 minutes (61 ± 10), respectively. Cold and warm ischemia times were 32.5 ± 5 min and 25 ± 7 min, respectively. End-to side venous and arterial anastomosis times were approximately 20 minutes (20 ± 7 min). Four recipients died within the first three days after transplantation due to technical failure [bleeding (n:3), microvascular anastomosis thrombosis (n:1)]. The rest of the recipients (n: 26) reached the experimental end point in a healthy condition (success rate was 86%). Conclusion: This model is easy to perform and offers various advantages. The principle advantages of our surgical model are that it minimizes the mechanical injury of the graft and provides a high quality intestinal graft. It also allows us to make rapid and safe anastomosis in the recipient operation.