OBJECTIVE: This is an experimental study which aims at developing and evaluating the feasibility of experimental techniques of vascularized and cutaneous abdominal heterotopic heart transplant in mice, creating an instrument of investigation for the effectiveness of prservation solutions, new immunosuppressive drugs, biological agents, genetic therapy and induction of immunological tolerance. METHOD: The techniques used in this work were previously described by Corry et al. and Billingham et al. RESULTS: The total surgical time to perform the cardiac transplants (n=20) was on average 60.3+6.3 minutes and the time of cutaneous transplants (n= 20) 17.75+0.71 minutes. The average survival of the cutaneous allografts (n=34) and cardiac (n=24) allografts was 7 and 11 days, respectively, while the syngeneic grafts survived more than 100 days. CONCLUSIONS: Both techniques are characterized by the easy reproducibility of the experimental models. The differences between the techniques were not limited either by the methodological peculiarities or by the length of survival and vascularization, but mainly by the immunogenicity and susceptibility of rejection.
Heart transplantation; Skin transplantation; Transplantation immunology; Mice, inbred strains
