Rat Model of Normothermic Ex-Situ Perfused Heterotopic Heart Transplantation

Summary

Here, we present an assessment protocol of a heterotopically implanted heart after normothermic ex situ preservation in the rat model.

Abstract

Heart transplantation is the most effective therapy for end-stage heart failure. Despite the improvements in therapeutic approaches and interventions, the number of heart failure patients waiting for transplantation is still increasing. The normothermic ex situ preservation technique has been established as a comparable method to the conventional static cold storage technique. The main advantage of this technique is that donor hearts can be preserved for up to 12 h in a physiologic condition. Moreover, this technique allows resuscitation of the donor hearts after circulatory death and applies required pharmacologic interventions to improve donor function after implantation. Numerous animal models have been established to improve normothermic ex situ preservation techniques and eliminate preservation-related complications. Although large animal models are easy to handle compared to small animal models, it is costly and challenging. We present a rat model of normothermic ex situ donor heart preservation followed by heterotopic abdominal transplantation. This model is relatively cheap and can be accomplished by a single experimenter.

Introduction

Heart transplantation remains the sole viable therapy for refractory heart failure^1,2,3,4. Despite a steady rise in the number of patients in need of heart transplantation, a proportional increase in the availability of donor organs has not been observed⁵. To address this issue, novel approaches for preserving donor hearts have been developed with the goal of improving the challenges and increasing the availability of donors^6,7,8

Protocol

The ethical committee of the Laboratory Animal Research Center of Chonnam National University Hospital (approval no. CNU IACUC - H - 2022-36) approved all the animal experiments. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (350-450 g), used in this study received care in compliance with the guidelines for the care and use of the laboratory animals. The rats were housed in temperature-controlled rooms with a 12 h light-dark cycle, with standard food and water available.

1. Preparation

Discussion

Our focus in establishing this model was to replicate normothermic human heart transplantation. Non-ejecting models are the commonly preferred technique for preserving the donor heart in an ex situ environment¹⁶. While ejecting models offer many advantages in assessing cardiac function during ex situ perfusion¹⁷, they are not suitable for heterotopic transplantation models. In heterotopic transplantation, the implanted donor heart needs to overcome systoli.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
AES active evacuation system	Smiths medical	PC-6769-51A	Utilize CO2 and excess isoflurane
Anesthesia machine	Smiths medical	PC-8801-01A	Mixes isoflurane and oxyegn and delivers to animal
B20 patient monitor	GE medical systems	B20	to observe mean aortic pressure and temperature
Homeothermic Monitoring System	Harvard apparatus	55-7020	To monitor and maintain animal's temperature
Micro-1 Rat oxygenator	Dongguan Kewei medical instruments	Micro-MO	For gas exchange in the langendorff circuit
Micropuncture introducer Set	COOK medical	G48007	for delivering cardioplegic solution to the arch through the abdominal aorta
Microscope	Amscope	MU1403	For zooming surgical field (Recipient)
Surgical loupe	SurgiTel	L2S09	For zooming surgical field (Donor)
Syringe pump	AMP all	SP-8800	To deliver cardioplegic solution
Transonic flow sensor	Transonic	ME3PXL-M5	Perfusion circuit flow sensor
Transonic tubing flow module	Transonic	TS410	flow acquiring system
Watson - Marlow pumps	Harvard apparatus	010.6131.DAO	Peristaltic pump used for recirculate perfusate
WBC-1510A	JEIO TECH	E03056D	Heating bath
Sprague-Dawley rats	Samtako Bio Korea Co., Ltd., Osan City Korea
Medications
BioHAnce Gel Eye Drops	SENTRIX Animal care		wet ointments for eye
Cefazolin	JW pharmaceutical		For prophilaxis
Custodiol	DR, FRANZ KOHLER CHEMIE GMBH		For heart harvesting
Diclofenac	Myungmoon Pharm. Co. Ltd		For pain control
Heparin	JW pharmaceutical		Anticoagulant
Insulin	JW pharmaceutical		hormon therapy
Saline	JW pharmaceutical		For hydration therapy