Transplantation in Miniature Swine

In recent years, swine have become a progressively more important large animal model for organ allotransplantation [1, 2]. These animals have been used to develop surgical techniques, to study the immunology of rejection, to assess the effectiveness of immunosuppressive drugs on tolerance, and to develop induction protocols for the maintenance of long-term tolerance. Allotransplantation of many organs and organ systems, including kidney, heart, lung, bowel, pancreas and bone marrow, as well as skin flaps, and composite tissue grafts have been studied in pigs [1, 3-10]. In addition, genetically modified swine, such as the a-1, 3-galactosyltransferase knockout swine have been developed for use in xenotransplantation models [11-13]. Miniature swine share most of the advantages of other domestic swine for these studies, but have the added advantage of being able to be handled in a laboratory setting even after reaching mature ages. In this laboratory, we have developed a series of inbred miniature swine, which have made it possible to carry out allotransplantation studies across reproducible major histocompatibility complex (MHC) or non-MHC mismatches [14, 15]. See also Chapters 22, 23, 25 and 26.