Use of Tacrolimus (FK506) and Antimetabolites as Immunosuppressants for Xenotransplantation Across Closely Related Rodent Species

In the present chapter, we will review our studies of the potential role of tacrolimus in xenotransplantation based largely on experiments in which rats were recipients of vascularized organs from either hamsters or mice. Because these xenografts after transplantation elicit a strong humoral response and are rejected within a few days, these models were considered until the last few years to be moderately difficult [1–10], more so than the sheep-to-goat combination of Per-per and Najarian [11] or the wolf-to-dog model of Hammer et al. [12].