Jugular Vein Graft Harvest From a Rabbit Model: A Surgical Procedure to Excise a Segment of Rabbit Jugular Vein for Ex Vivo Studies

In the rabbit's neck, the jugular veins, comprising the external and internal jugular veins, are major blood vessels that carry deoxygenated blood from the brain, face, and neck to the heart.

To harvest the jugular vein graft or vein segment, prepare an anesthetized rabbit in the supine position. Make a longitudinal incision in its neck region. Dissect the subcutaneous tissue and fascia - a layer of connective tissue - to expose the underlying jugular veins. Ligate its branches to obstruct the blood flow. Placing sutures around the internal and external jugular veins, make a small incision in the venous wall at the distal vein region.

Insert an appropriately sized balloon-tipped catheter through the vein incision, moving it toward its proximal side. Now, ligate the sutures at the distal regions of the veins. Inflate the balloon of the catheter with air to strip away the innermost vein layer comprising the endothelial cell monolayer. The endothelial cell exfoliation causes distension of the vein segment, overcoming vein collapse and establishing an adequate lumen.

Ligate the proximal end of the vein. Further, dissect the vein at the distal side. Insert an intravenous catheter into the vein from the distal to the proximal direction to keep the venous lumen open. Incise the vein segment at the proximal side. The harvested jugular vein graft is ready for ex vivo studies.

After local anesthetic and prophylactic antibiotic and analgesia administration, disinfect the surgical site with 10% povidone-iodine and make a 50 to 60-millimeter incision with a surgical scalpel, in the cervical region of the anesthetized male Japanese white rabbit. Bluntly dissect the subcutaneous tissues and fascia to expose a 20 to 30-millimeter segment of the jugular vein, and use 4-0 silk sutures to ligate all of the branches of the exposed vein.

Place a 2-0 silk suture around the internal and external jugular veins, and make a 1-millimeter incision in the venous wall of the distal side of the vein. Insert a 2-French balloon catheter from the cut toward the proximal side of the vein, and ligate the 2-0 silk suture at the distal sides of the jugular veins.

Inflate the balloon with 200 microliters of air, and use the balloon to denude the intima of the vein three times for endothelial exfoliation. After the third passage, ligate the proximal end of the vein, and cut the vein at the distal site. Then, insert a 20-gauge intravenous catheter into the harvested vein from the distal to the proximal direction, and cut the vein at the proximal site.