Establishment of a novel heterotopic xenograft model for tissue engineering valved conduit in vivo examination

Objective To explore a simple and repeatable method for establishing an in vivo animal model of tissue-engineered valved conduit.Methods Forty-five adult female New Zealand white rabbits,weighing 2.5-3.0 kg,were assigned randomly into two groups:experimental group ( n =25) and control group (n =20).Decellularized valved conduits harvested form female SD rats' aorta were crosslinked with branched poly (ethylene glycol) and then were end-to-end anstomosised with interrupted suture into the right common carotid artery of rabbits in the experimental group.Sham operations were performed in the control group.The patency rate of the transplants was tested in vivo by color Doppler ultrasound on the postoperative day 7,14 and 28.Then the transplants were removed to be analyzed by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining.Results There was no significant difference in the success rate between the experiment group and control group (96.0％ vs. 100.0％,P＞0.05) as well as the patency rate (87.5％ vs.95.0％,P ＞0.05).HE staining showed little presence of inflammatory cells and structural integrity of the valves.Conclusion The results suggest that this novel model could provide a convenient and economical way with high success rate for estimating the in vivo functions and characteristics of tissue engineering valved conduit. Key words: Tissue engineering; Heterotropic xenograft; Valved conduit