A comparison of XXXX tracheal transplant models: implantation verses anastomotic techniques for the study of airway rejection.

@entity35 @entity5924 @entity825 @entity254
BACKGROUND: In rodent models, investigators have transplanted donor tracheas into a recipient @entity35 's abdomen or s.c. tissue to study airway rejection. We describe a modification of this model, which provides improved histology to study the airway injury related to @entity5924 . METHODS: The standard technique of implanting the donor @entity825 was compared to a model in which a tracheal Y graft was created by @entity254 of the donor @entity825 to the recipient airway. Syngeneic and allogeneic tracheal grafts (Lewis and Brown @entity35 ) were harvested at 2 and 4 weeks using each model (eight groups). RESULTS: Gross patency at the tracheal @entity254 grafts was 100%. All donor tracheas, which were implanted without an @entity254 , were occluded with mucus (syngeneic) or granulation tissue (allogeneic). Syngeneic implant grafts demonstrated significantly less lumenal granulation tissue 35.3%+/-32 than the allograft implant group (95.3%+/-9.2, P=0.0005 at 4 weeks). The anastomotic allograft group demonstrated significantly less lumenal granulation tissue 48.3%+/-23.7 when compared with the implanted allograft group (P=0.003). The implanted allograft demonstrated a severe loss of epithelial integrity by 2 weeks (16.7%+/-38), which progressed to complete loss by 4 weeks (P=0.0001 and P=0.0001 vs. native). This loss was significantly more than that of the anastomotic group at 2 weeks (89.5%+/-13, P=0.004) and 4 weeks (88.3+/-29, P=0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The @entity35 tracheal allograft anastomosed to the recipient airway demonstrated less lumenal granulation tissue obstruction and better preservation of epithelial integrity than an implant allograft, suggesting that an open airway improves assessment of transplant-related changes associated with rejection.
