A Novel Model of Mouse-to-Rat Kidney Xenotransplantation

Transplantation animal models require 2 animals for each experiment, 1 as a donor and 1 as a recipient. At the present time, developing microsurgical instruments and refining surgical techniques should allow us to reduce the number of animal used for transplantation research. In this study, we aimed to harvest 2 kidneys from 1 donor to be able to minimize the number of animals needed for transplantation studies. For this purpose, we developed a kidney xeno-transplantation model from mouse to rat, in which only 1 animal was used as the donor for 2 kidney recipients. Ten male Balb/c mice weighing from 25 to 30 g were used as donors, and 20 male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing from 150 to 200 g were used as recipients. In this study, the harvesting of 2 kidneys from a mouse as well as the recipient operation were described with technical detail. Although harvesting 2 kidneys from a mouse and mouse-to-rat kidney xenotransplantation is a highly challenging microsurgical procedure, we believe that every experienced surgeon should be capable of performing this surgery with some practice. This model allows us to reduce the number of animals in transplantation studies without compromising the graft quality. We strongly recommend our refined harvesting technique to researchers, particularly in terms of animal rights.