Cervical heterotopic arterialized liver transplantation in the mouse

Background. Orthotopic liver transplantation in the mouse is an extremely d emanding procedure. Since the mouse, however, would be a good model for the study of various transplantation-related problems, we designed a new surgi cal technique for cervical heterotopic arterialized reduced-size liver tran splantation. Methods. Eighty percent hepatectomy was performed ex vivo and the remaining liver segment was transplanted to the neck of the recipient. The donor aor ta was anastomosed to the right common carotid artery, the portal vein to t he distal right external jugular vein, and the donor suprahepatic vena cava to the proximal right external jugular vein using a cuff technique. The bi le duct was brought out as a cutaneous stoma. Results. This relatively simple technique was performed in 22 BALB/C mice a nd associated with a high success rate: three mice died within 5 days due t o surgical complications. All grafts in survivors were structurally normal until postoperative day 7 and began to show histological signs of atrophy a round day 14. Conclusions. It is concluded that this technique may be useful for preserva tion, regeneration and reperfusion studies, and factors responsible for the maintenance of hepatocyte integrity in heterotopic liver transplantation. (C) 2000 Academic Press.