Auxiliary liver-heart transplantation in the rat: a new microsurgical model inducing tolerance

Abstract

Objective To establish a model of immunological tolerance induced by simultaneous auxiliary liver transplantation and heterotopic heart transplantations using PVG and DA rats as donors and recipients respectively, to provide a new method for the research of liver transplantation. Methods The recipient's whole portal vein blood was transfered to the auxiliary liver allograft. The donor's heart was transplanted to the recipient's abdominal cavity by end-to-side anastomosis of the donor aorta and pulmonary artery to the recipient aorta and vena cava, respectively. Results In the syngeneic control group and the test group the recipient rats and their transplanted hearts both survived more than 100 days, while the hearts of alloheart control group only survived 6 days. The weight of the liver graft increased slowly. Conclusions In the presence of recipient liver, the auxiliary liver graft functioned well to induce tolerance. At 100 days, the auxiliary liver graft had increased in volume and weight with maintenance of its tolerance-inducing effects.