Establishing In Situ Closed Circuit Perfusion of Lower Abdominal Organs and Hind Limbs in Mice

Summary

A protocol is described for in situ perfusion of the mouse lower body, including the bladder, the prostate, sex organs, bone, muscle and foot skin.

Abstract

Ex vivo perfusion is an important physiological tool to study the function of isolated organs (e.g. liver, kidneys). At the same time, due to the small size of mouse organs, ex vivo perfusion of bone, bladder, skin, prostate, and reproductive organs is challenging or not feasible. Here, we report for the first time an in situ lower body perfusion circuit in mice that includes the above tissues, but bypasses the main clearance organs (kidney, liver, and spleen). The circuit is established by cannulating the abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava above the iliac artery and vein and cauterizing peripheral blood vessels. Perfusion is performed via a peristaltic pump with perfusate flow maintained for up to 2 h. In situ staining with fluorescent lectin and Hoechst solution confirmed that the microvasculature was successfully perfused. This mouse model can be a very useful tool for studying pathological processes as well as mechanisms of drug delivery, migration/metastasis of circulating tumor cells into/from the tumor, and interactions of immune system with perfused organs and tissues.

Introduction

Isolated organ perfusion was originally developed to study organ physiology for transplantation^1,2,3, and enabled understanding of functions of the organs without interference from other body systems. For example, isolated kidney and heart perfusion was immensely useful in understanding basic principles of hemodynamics and effects of vasoactive agents, whereas liver perfusion was important to understanding the metabolic function, including drug metabolism in healthy and diseased tissue^4,5,....

Protocol

All methods described here have been approved by the University of Colorado’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

1. Pre-heat the perfusion system

1. Prepare the perfusion system before surgery by starting a 37 °C circulating water bath for all water-jacketed components (perfusate reservoir, moist chamber, and lid) as shown in a customized configuration in Figure 1A. Make sure the tubing is clean and replace if necessary. To li.......

Discussion

The described circuit can be used to probe various research questions, for example the role of different serum components and tissue barriers in drug delivery, or immune and stem cell trafficking. Different drug delivery systems (e.g., liposomes and nanoparticles) can be added to the perfusate in order to understand the role of physiological and biochemical factors in delivery. The duration of perfusion can vary, depending on the tissue studied, scientific goals, and the composition of perfusate. We present here the resu.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Equipment
3.5x-90x stereo zoom microscope on boom stand with LED light	Amscope	SKU: SM-3BZ-80S
Carbon dioxide, USP	Airgas healthcare	19087-5283
Confocal microscope	NIKON	ECLIPSE Ti2
Disposable Sterile Cautery Pen with High Temp	FIAB	F7244
Moist chamber bubble trap (part 6 in Figure 1)	Harvard Apparatus	733692	Customized as the perfisate container; also enabled constant pressure perfusion
Moist chamber cover with quartz window (part 3 in Figure 1)	Harvard Apparatus	733524	keep the chamber's temperature
Moist chamber with metal tube heat exchanger	Harvard Apparatus	732901	Water-jacketed moist chamber with lid to maintain perfusate and mouse temperature
Olsen-Hegar needle holders with suture cutters	Fine Science Tools (FST)	125014
Oxygen compressed, USP	Airgas healthcare	C2649150AE06
Roller pump (part 4 in Figure 1)	Harvard Apparatus	730113	deliver perfusate to cannula in the moist chamber
SCP plugsys servo control F/Perfusion (part 1 in Figure 1)	Harvard Apparatus	732806	control the purfusion speed
Silicone pad	Harvard Apparatus
Silicone tubing set (arrows in Figure 1)	Harvard Apparatus (TYGON)	733456
Student standard pattern forceps	Fine Science Tools (FST)	91100-12
Surgical Scissors	Fine Science Tools (FST)	14001-14
Table for moist chamber	Harvard Apparatus	734198
Thermocirculator (part 2 in Figure 1)	Harvard Apparatus	724927	circulating water bath for all water-jacketed components
Three-way stopcock (part 5 in Figure 1)	Cole-Palmer	30600-02
Veterinary anesthesia machine	Highland	HME109
Materials
19-G BD PrecisionGlide needle	BD	305186	For immobilizing the Insyte Autoguard Winged needle and scratching the cortical bone
4-0 silk sutures	Keebomed-Hopemedical	427411
6-0 silk sutures	Keebomed-Hopemedical	427401
Filter (0.2 µm)	ThermoFisher	42225-CA	Filter for 5% BSA-RINGER’S
Permanent marker	Staedtler	342-9
Syringe (10 mL)	Fisher Scientific	14-823-2E
Syringe (60 mL)	BD	309653	Filter for 5% BSA-RINGER’S
Reagents
1% Evans blue ( w/v ) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.5)	Sigma	314-13-6
10% buffered formalin	velleyvet	36692
BALB/c mice ( 8-10 weeks old )	Charles River
Baxter Viaflex lactate Ringer's solution	EMRN Medical Supplies Inc.	JB2324
Bovine serum albumin	Thermo Fisher	11021-037
Cyanoacrylate glue	Krazy Glue
DyLight-649-lectin	Vector Laboratories,Inc.	ZB1214
Ethanol (70% (vol/vol))	Pharmco	111000190
Hoechst33342	Life Technologies	H3570
Isoflurane	Piramal Enterprises Limited	66794-017-25
Phosphate buffered saline	Gibco	10010023