The Mouse Liver Microsurgery Core (Core B) will be responsible for conducting liver transplant surgery procedures and post-transplant care in mice in this PPG initiative. The orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) procedures in mice are technically highly demanding, and the maintenance of surgical technical quality and stability will be the key for the experimental success. Core B therefore will provide all the surgical assistance to the investigators in conducting liver warm ischemia as well as ex vivo liver cold ischemia combined with OLT, as outlined in Project I and Project II. The core will also coordinate experiments among the projects to maximize the use of samples from transplants and minimize the number of animals for transplant surgery. In addition, extra samples from transplants will be stored and maintained as the archive. If the Project requires additional surgical procedures, Core B will also provide support for other surgical needs in the proposals. The laboratory has developed the mouse model of extended hepatic cold storage and OLT a decade ago to study various aspects of innate and adaptive immune responses in organ transplantation. Significant amounts of experience, accumulated data, and available models will enable us to confidently conduct the complicated experiments in this Project.
The specific aims of Core B are as follows:
Aim 1. To provide OLT and local liver IRI surgery and post-transplant care in mice with quality and consistency. The core will be responsible for conducting all the microsurgical OLT/non-transplant procedures and post- transplant care in mice in Project 1 and 2. These procedures are technically demanding, and the Core will assure consistent and reliable surgical outcomes in conducting experiments, as proposed in this PPG.
Aim 2. To coordinate experiments among projects and maximize the use of samples from liver transplants and recipients. The Core will coordinate experiments between Project I and Project II to maximize the use of samples from transplanted animals and thus to minimize the numbers and costs of animals for surgeries.
Aim 3. To store extra samples and maintain the archive. The Core will store and record surplus tissue samples (liver grafts, host tissues, serum) and maintain them as an archive for potential future use.
Aim 4. To provide support for other surgical needs. Core B will provide support for additional surgical procedures (e.g., portal vein injections; i.v. infusions), if needed.
