Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Rat orthotopic liver transplantation usually used as basic animal model for liver transplantation acute rejection research. But for human, it is wised to use nonhuman primates to establish this model and obtain some experiment results matched for clinical needs in this field.
OBJECTIVE: To explore improvement of orthotopic liver transplantation model in rhesus monkey.
METHODS: Healthy rhesus monkeys were chosen to perform orthotopic liver transplantation for 20 times. The model was established by drawing on a variety of animal model methods plus clinical liver transplantation experiences, and two cuff technique, hepatic artery reconstruction were used to establish stable model of orthotopic liver transplantation in rhesus monkeys.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Twenty orthotopic liver transplantation models in rhesus were performed, and the achievement ratio of operation was 90%. The mean liver graft procurement time, donor Liver preparation time, recipient operation time and anhepatic phase was (17±3) minutes, (35±5) minutes, (133±45) minutes and (12±4) minutes, respectively. The survival rate at24 hours after operation was 90% (18/20), at 72 hours was 80% (16/20), and at 1 week was 50% (10/20).14 rhesus monkeys died of acute rejection within 2 weeks after operation. The longest survival time was 38 days and this recipient also died of acute rejection. All recipients were without portal vein thrombosis and biliary complications. The improved rhesus monkey model of orthotopic liver transplantation is easy to perform with high achievement ratio of operation, superior reproducibility and stability. It is an ideal animal model for pre-clinical studies of liver transplantation.