A Comparative Study Between Cold Static Storage and Normothermic Ex-Situ Donor Heart Preservation in a Rat Model of Heterotopic Heart Transplantation

Cold static storage (CSS) and normothermic ex-situ preservation are the most widely used donor heart preservation techniques worldwide. The current study compares both CSS and normothermic ex-situ preservation methods in terms of graft performance, morphologic changes, and acute immune response in an experimental model. Twenty rats underwent heterotopic abdominal heart transplantation after 2 h of CSS (group 1; n = 10) or normothermic ex-situ perfusion (group 2; n = 10). Blood samples were obtained from recipients just before and after 4 h of transplantation to analyze surface markers of immune cells and cytokines. Electrocardiography and echocardiography were performed before donor heart harvesting and after heterotopic transplantation. After 4 h of transplantation, donor hearts were extracted for further histologic studies. All recipient animals in both groups successfully survived after heterotopic transplantation. The mean ischemic time of the donor heart was 163 ± 8.34 mins in group 1 and 43.8 ± 6.97 mins in group 2 (P