ABSTRACT
A method for rat liver transplantation was first described by S. Lee and T. S. Edgington using the heterotopic auxiliary method in which both donor and recipient livers are subjected to partial hepatectomy. The donor is anesthetized with ether and a transverse abdominal incision is made. The portal vein is divided from the pyloric, splenic, and mesenteric veins. Death due to bleeding is more common in PVG than other strains because of the vitamin K deficiency of this rat. Nevertheless, no leakage, stenosis, or thrombosis has been observed in any of the PVG rats where the cuff technique was employed to reestablish portal venous continuity. The measures to reduce the occurrence of infection in the second group of recipients included the very careful washing of all instruments and the use of four-star specific pathogen-free rats as donors and recipients.
