Preclinical experimental transplantation research that is based on
microsurgical models in rats fulfills two indispensable conditions for
modern organ transplanta- tion research: Almost all organ grafts can be
performed on the rat with an amount of technical effort that is still
justifiable. Thus transplantation models that are analogous to human
organ transplantation can be developed, tested, and evaluated. This
fulfills a necessary condition from the standpoint of surgery. With the
species rat, we have a great variety of genetically different inbred
strains. From the immunological point of view this is an indispensable
prerequisite for the investigation of preclinical transplantation models
that can be expected to produce controllable, reproducible results. In
vivo experimental results can be supplemented by and correlated to in
vitro tests. Lately these experimental results are being greatly
expanded and more precisely defined by the application of
immunohistological methods that have been established recently in Kiel.
In this book we hope to present a cross section of the microsurgical
models in use today and of current immunological and immunohistological
models. Furthermore, we wish to record the present state of
microsurgical organ transplantation research and to show its
relationship to the current state and development of clinical organ
transplantation. A special aspect of our Kiel research group is the
long-term, well-functioning, interdisciplinary cooperation between
surgery, immunology, and pathology. Through this cooperation we attempt
to provide an atmosphere in which theoretical and practical viewpoints
can mutually influence each other.
