A simplified two-stitch sleeve technique for arterial anastomosis of cervical heterotopic cardiac transplantation in mice

Although cervical cardiac transplantation is a well recognized useful model in diverse experimental settings, its widespread use, however, has been significantly hampered by the technical challenges relevant to small vessel anastomosis. We herein introduced a simplified two-stitch sleeve technique into arterial anastomosis during the course of cervical cardiac transplantation in mice. Cervical transplantation of allogenic and syngeneic cardiac grafts was conducted to assess the feasibility of this two-stitch sleeve technique in arterial anastomosis. Venous anastomosis was completed by the one-suture end-to-end microsuture technique, while arterial anastomosis was conducted by invaginating the recipient right common carotid artery into the graft left common carotid artery along with two guiding stitches. The two-stitch sleeve technique significantly simplified the procedures for arterial anastomosis as compared with that of the traditional microsuture technique (5.5 ± 1.8 min vs. 15.7 ± 3.0 min). However, the survival time for allografts (8.0 ± 0.2 day vs. 8.0 ± 0.4 day) and the long-term patency for syngeneic grafts (> 120 days) were the same as the grafts implanted by the traditional microsuture technique. This simplified sleeve technique is easy to learn, particularly for beginners without microsuture experience, and therefore, it has the great potential for widespread use in transplant immunology.