Skin Transplantation and Lymphoid Organ Analysis in Mice

Julie Ruer-Laventie; Rajesh Jayachandran; Mathias Schmaler; Simona W Rossi; Jean Pieters

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.3531

Skin Transplantation and Lymphoid Organ Analysis in Mice

Bio Protoc. 2020 Feb 20;10(4):e3531. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.3531.

Authors

Julie Ruer-Laventie¹, Rajesh Jayachandran¹, Mathias Schmaler², Simona W Rossi², Jean Pieters¹

Affiliations

¹ Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
² Department of Biomedicine, University and University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

Abstract

Skin transplantation in mice is an important procedure to evaluate immune responses generated against heterologous grafts, especially given its highly immunogenic nature. In fact, skin is one of the most challenging organs in terms of allograft retention. In this protocol, we provide a detailed procedure for skin grafting using the tail skin as donor organ that is grafted on the dorsal site of thoracic cage in a recipient mouse. We also provide protocols for the systematic analysis of lymphoid organ analysis in transplanted mice. Together these protocols may be valuable for evaluation of parameters that affect skin grafting, including genetic factors, immune cell activation as well as the analysis of compounds that may be useful in allowing graft tolerance.

Keywords: Immune cell analysis; Lymphoid organs; Mouse; Organ rejection; Protocol; Skin transplantation.