Simplified microvascular suture techniques for rat liver transplantation as a microsurgical model with arterial blood supply

Abstract

The methods for liver transplantation in the rat mainly used do not include reconstruction of the arterial blood supply to the liver. Furthermore, to ensure a short anhepatic phase these methods almost all entail specially developed cuff anastomoses in the recipient operation instead of the conventional microvascular suture technique. Thus an acceptable survival rate can be attained in the experimental animals. This detailed description of simplified microvascular suture techniques is intended to present an alternative to the cuff anastomoses used almost exclusively. In the donor operation with this method, the liver is dissected with an arterial pedicle including the abdominal segment of the aorta, and the liver is flushed in situ not only via the portal vein, but also via the hepatic artery. The organ is implanted in the recipient animal using simplified microvascular suture reconstruction of the arterial blood supply to the liver. Use of telescopic spectacles with 2‐fold magnification has proven to be adequate for the entire procedure. With mastery of this method of rat liver transplantation, the average duration of the anhepatic phase is about 20 min, substantially below the 30‐mm limit which is critical for the survival of the experimental animals. The donor operation requires about 60 min, and the recipient operation 70 to 80 min. With this method, the spectrum of investigations on liver transplantation which are possible in the rat is substantially extended in that clinical conditions can be reproduced very much more exactly by combination of portal and arterial in‐situ flushing in the donor operation and rearterialization of the transplant in the recipient operation, as compared to the transplanted rat liver being supplied only with portal venous blood.