Training protocol for feline renal transplantation, using rat vascular anastomosis

A microsurgical technique for catheter insertion in the rat femoral artery

Purpose:

To modify a surgical catheterization method using the bent needle introducer in small animals.

Methods:

Eight-week-old male Lewis rats were used in the study. A needle introducer was created by bending a 21G injection needle at 45°. The bent needle introducer was used for catheter insertion into the left femoral artery of the rats under anesthesia. As a control, a catheter was directly inserted into the blood vessel without the introducer. The insertion time of each method was measured. Blood pressure and heart rate were measured 24 h after catheter insertion using the telemetry system.

Results:

Using the introducer, the catheter was successfully inserted within a short time in all rats. Without the introducer, a longer duration was required for catheter insertion. The frequency of the insertion with no catheter-based errors with the introducer tended to be higher than that without the introducer. The mean arterial pressure and heart rate 24 h after catheter insertion in each group were almost the same.

Conclusions:

We developed a surgical catheterization method using the introducer in small animals. This could potentially reduce the frequency of the insertion with catheter-based errors and insertion time.

Translational microsurgery. A new platform for transplantation research

PURPOSE

Clinical microsurgery has been introduced in many fields, while experimental microsurgery has the cross-disciplinary features of the sciences and techniques for growth of medicine, pharmacology, veterinary, engineering etc. Training protocol, proposing a new name as Translational Microsurgery, was introduced.

METHODS

Reconstructive skills of hepatic artery in pediatric living donor liver transplantation were summarized. Ex vivo training protocol using artificial blood vessel for surgeons was proposed.

RESULTS

Clinical microsurgery requires anastomosis with delicate arteries and limited field of view. Our training protocol revealed that the relation between the score and speed was seen, while not all the surgeons with enough experience got high score. This training led to muster clinical skills and to apply excellent experimental works.

CONCLUSIONS

Our microsurgical training protocol has been planned from the points of clinical setting. Training for vascular anastomosis led to rodent transplantation models. These models were used for immunology and immunosuppressant research. Microsurgical techniques led to master catheter technique and to inject various drugs or gene vectors.

Establishment of an acute rejection model by transplanting both renal grafts into two different rats using a modified method of ureterovesical anastomosis

OBJECTIVE

To establish an acute rejection model after kidney transplantation in the rat using a modified method of ureterovesical anastomosis.

METHODS

Thirty-nine Wistar rat donors, were transplanted into 70 male SD rats. Wistar rats (group 1; n = 18) underwent harvest of both kidneys, cold perfusion, and transplantation into 36 SD rats. Wistar rats (group 2; n = 18) underwent left kidney harvest, cold perfusion and transplantation into 18 SD rats. Groups 1 and 2 did not receive immunosuppression after transplantation. Six kidneys were harvested from 3 Wistar rats (group 3), were transplanted into 6 SD rats that were treated with CsA (5 mg/kg per day) postoperatively, and humanely killed at 21 days. There were 10 SD in sham operated rats (group 4). The renal allograft vein was end-to-end anastomosed to the recipient renal vein using an epidural catheter. The renal allograft was anastomosed end-to-side to the recipient abdominal aorta with an abdominal aortic flap. The renal allograft ureterovesical flap was directly inserted into the recipient bladder, and attached by 4-5 interrupted sutures. The recipient's right kidney vessels were ligated at 3 days postoperatively.

RESULTS

The success rates were 91.7% and 88.9% in groups 1 and 2, respectively. Except for the time for removal of the renal allografts, the operative durations and warm ischemia times differed insignificantly between both groups (P > .05). Blood creatinine levels increased significantly after kidney transplantation in groups 1 and 2 compared with the sham operated and CsA-treated cohorts (P < .01), but insignificantly between groups 1 and 2 (P > .05).

CONCLUSIONS

A dual renal allograft model was established in the rat using a modified ureterovesical anastomosis. The technique can be reproduced reliably, reducing costs and shorten using overall operative duration.

Validation of microsurgical models in microsurgery training and competence: A review

Microsurgery has expanded the scope of many surgical specialties and is evolving into an integral part of training programmes. The complexity of microsurgery requires considerable time and resources for adequate training and practice. This article reviews the validation of microsurgical models for microsurgery training and competence.

Education and research using experimental pigs in a medical school

Medium-sized animals such as miniature pigs are considered to be important for education and training in medical schools to master the skills required in surgical treatment. Much still remains to be done to establish total management for animal experiments using pigs. Improvement of the effective utilization of pigs is also required from the economical and ethical points of view. We have been providing a support system at a facility for experimental animals in a medical school for 3 years, and herein we introduce our personal experiments as an instructional lecture. Before starting surgical training using live pigs, sufficient education concerning animal ethics and dry laboratory training was completed. Four kinds of miniature pigs have been used as experimental animals; porcine rearing pens have been improved and a postoperative care system has been implemented. Moreover, staff at the center offer a preoperative service of anesthesia for surgical education, training, and research. Chronic experiments have increased to represent 35% and 48% of experiments using pigs in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Experimental pigs have undergone secondary use after being killed to reduce the number of animals used in experiments. Sharing and reuse have allowed effective use of miniature pig tissues and cells for research, and have reduced the number of animals used. We recommend that researchers consider use of our total systems because they can improve the quality of medical education and research and facilitate effective use of tissues and cells by sharing and reuse among different departments.