A simplified technique of small intestinal transplantation in the rat.

A technique is described of experimental intestinal transplantation in the rat in which, using microsurgical technique, the superior mesenteric artery and vein distal to the right colic artery are dissected free. The ends of the supplied bowel segment are divided and the lumen irrigated with 0.5% neomycin. The divided superior mesenteric artery is perfused with iced heparinized lactated Ringer's solution, the vessels are then anastomosed to the recipient's aorta and inferior vena cava in end-to-side fashion, and the bowel ends are exteriorized as cutaneous stomas. Seven of 13 recipients of syngeneic grafts survived, and grafts were patent though atrophic up to 12 months later.