Abstract
We have evaluated the effect of immunosuppression on the graft of the newborn small intestine transplanted without any vascular anastomoses in a rat model. We have also examined the function of the transplanted intestine which was interposed between the divided ends of the host intestine 4 weeks after transplantation. In the first experiments, the grafts from 3-day-old Lewis newborn rats were transplanted into the abdominal wall of allogeneic Wistar strain rats. The rats were divided into three groups as follows; IS (-) group (without immunosuppression), FK group (with FK 506; 0.2mg/kg/day for 2 weeks) and CyA group (with cyclosporine-A; 20mg/kg/day for 2 weeks). Seven weeks after transplantation, all grafts were harvested and examined histologically. In allogeneic transplantation, only FK-group-rats survived with growth of the grafts. In the other groups, the grafts were rejected and disappeared. In syngeneic transplantation, evaluated in the same experimental protocol, immunosuppressant, especially FK, was considered to promote growth and survival of the grafts. In the second experiments, after successful syngeneic transplantation of the newborn intestine into the abdominal wall, the graft was anastomosed in end-to-end fashion to the divided jejunum of the host. Five of 15 rats survived after anastomosis. Fluoroscopic examination of the transplanted intestine demonstrated good peristalsis of the graft without stenosis in 3 of the 5 rats. From these results, it is strongly anticipated that the graft of newborn intestine transplanted without any vascular anastomoses may be useful as an alternative to the previous conventional transplantation of the intestine.
