Microsurgical cuff techniques for orthotopic vascularized murine lung transplantation have allowed for the design of studies that examine mechanisms contributing to the high failure rate of pulmonary grafts. Here, we provide a detailed technical description of orthotopic lung retransplantation in mice, which we have thus far performed in 144 animals. The total time of the retransplantation procedure is approximately 55 minutes, 20 minutes for donor harvest and 35 minutes for the implantation, with a success rate exceeding 95%. The mouse lung retransplantation model represents a novel and powerful tool to examine how cells that reside in or infiltrate pulmonary grafts shape immune responses.
Keywords: Lung transplantation; experimental models; mice.