Complications and Their Prevention in Experimental Renal Transplantation in Rats.

Objectives: Experimental rat models of renal transplant have played a pivotal role in renal transplant research. Both intraoperative and postoperative complications during donor nephrectomy and implantation in the recipient can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The aim of this paper is to discuss the incidence, pathophysiology, and prevention of complications that occurred in the process of establishment of a rat model of chronic allograft injury at our institution.

Surgical Anatomy and Microvascular Surgical Technique Relevant to Experimental Renal Transplant in Rat Employing Aortic and Inferior Venacaval Conduits.

Objectives: Rat models of renal transplant are used to investigate immunologic processes and responses to therapeutic agents before their translation into routine clinical practice. In this study, we have described details of rat surgical anatomy and our experiences with the microvascular surgical technique relevant to renal transplant by employing donor inferior vena cava and aortic conduits.

Materials And Methods: For this study, 175 rats (151 Lewis and 24 Fisher) were used to establish the Fisher-Lewis rat model of chronic allograft injury at our institution.

Review of Surgical Techniques of Experimental Renal Transplantation in Rats.

Microvascular surgical techniques of renal transplant in rats have evolved over the past 5 decades to achieve successful rat renal transplant; these modifications have included surgical techniques to address the anatomic variations in the renal blood vessels and those to reduce ischemic and operation durations. Here, we review the surgical techniques of renal transplant in rats and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of individual techniques of vascular and ureteric anastomoses. For this review, we performed a systematic literature search using relevant medical subject heading terms and included appropriate publications in the review.

Evolution of the Concept and Pathogenesis of Chronic Renal Allograft Injury: An Updated Review.

The advantages conferred by renal transplant, such as the improved quality of life and survival, are compromised by the reduced half-life of the transplanted kidney to a decade because of chronic allograft injury, which is the leading cause of transplant loss. There has been a significant evolution in the concept of the nomenclature, grading of histologic changes, diagnostic markers, and the theories of the pathogenesis of chronic allograft injury in the past decade. This review sought to consolidate the published literature that contributes toward understanding the changing concepts and pathogenesis of the chronic allograft injury, which has implications to managing and preventing chronic allograft injury in experimental and clinical settings.

Inhibiting ERK Activation with CI-1040 Leads to Compensatory Upregulation of Alternate MAPKs and Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 following Subtotal Nephrectomy with No Impact on Kidney Fibrosis.

Extracellular-signal regulated kinase (ERK) activation by MEK plays a key role in many of the cellular processes that underlie progressive kidney fibrosis including cell proliferation, apoptosis and transforming growth factor β1-mediated epithelial to mesenchymal transition. We therefore assessed the therapeutic impact of ERK1/2 inhibition using a MEK inhibitor in the rat 5/6 subtotal nephrectomy (SNx) model of kidney fibrosis. There was a twentyfold upregulation in phospho-ERK1/2 expression in the kidney after SNx in Male Wistar rats.