ABSTRACT
For more than a decade the operation of cardiac transplantation in the rat has been employed in transplantation research. By using different inbred strains of rat for donors and recipients the histocompatibility difference can be standardized, since the donor will always differ from the recipient by the same degree. The thorax of the anesthetized rat is shaved, and the hair is also removed from the front of the neck. The rat is then held supine on a small-animal operating table or, alternatively, by securing the four limbs to a cork board with sticking plaster. An i.v. injection of 500 IU (0.1 ml) of heparin is then given. Cardiac transplantation in the rat is simpler than renal transplantation in that: an operating microscope is not required; the success is apparent immediately; there are no ureteric problems; the end point of rejection is easy to determine; and animals who reject their grafts do not die so “fresh” histology is always possible.
