Revisiting Orthotopic Rat Liver Transplant

Objectives: Orthotopic liver transplant remains technically challenging. Materials and Methods: We performed whole graft orthotopic liver transplants with different anhepatic times (<= 20 min, n = 19; vs 30 min, n = 9) and partial orthotopic liver transplants in rats including a male-to-male Sprague-Dawley group (n = 15), a male-to-male Lewis-to-Brown Norway group (n = 20), and a male-to-male Sprague-Dawley-to-Lewis group (n = 20); there was also a female-to-male SpragueDawley group (n = 19). Results: For the groups with <= 20-minute or 30-minute anhepatic time, 14-day and 30-day survival rates were 94.7%, 89.5%, 88.9%, and 88.9%, respectively, and there was no difference in survival (P = .716). For 50% orthotopic liver transplants from the male-to male Sprague-Dawley group, 14-day and 30-day survival rates were 93.3% and 86.7%, respectively, with no difference between whole and 50% graft orthotopic liver transplant. The 14-day and 30-day survival rates were, respectively, 30% and 10% for the Lewis-to-Brown Norway group and 30% and 6.6% for the Sprague-Dawley-to-Lewis group, with no differences between the 2 groups (P = .564). Most of the recipient rats died within 72 hours. Acute rejections and wound dehiscence were the causes of death. Recipients from the female-to-male SpragueDawley orthotopic liver transplant group died shortly after surgery. Conclusions: Orthotopic liver transplants can be performed to achieve high success rates in the extended anhepatic time; however, orthotopic liver transplants from female Sprague-Dawley donor rats have a high risk of failure.