Cervical Heterotopic Mouse Heart Transplantation using End-to-side Anastomosis Technique to Study Transplant Immunology.

Murine heterotopic heart transplantation is a critical preclinical model in transplantation research. Cervical heterotopic heart transplantation in mice offers distinct advantages, including direct visual and palpable monitoring of graft viability, reduced surgical trauma, and faster postoperative recovery. It has therefore become an increasingly valuable platform for studying transplant immunology, particularly valuable for animals with poor physiological conditions due to genetic modification or drug induction, and for experiments requiring secondary or combined organ transplantation, the cervical region often becomes the only feasible site. Conventional cervical transplantation techniques, whether using end-to-end suturing or cuff-based methods, require permanent ligation of the recipient's common carotid artery and external jugular vein, which may compromise cerebral perfusion and introduce foreign materials or hemodynamic disturbances. To address these limitations, this paper details a refined cervical heart transplantation technique utilizing an end-to-side vascular anastomosis. The method preserves the recipient's common carotid artery and external jugular vein, maintaining normal cerebral perfusion and avoiding complications associated with permanent vessel ligation. This protocol details the steps from donor heart harvest to recipient anastomosis and postoperative care. Representative results demonstrate a high surgical success rate (96.7%) and the model's effectiveness in studying allograft rejection. This technique offers a physiologically relevant and technically accessible model for investigators in transplant immunology.