I 



1908.] TRANSPLANTATION OF VESSELS AND ORGANS. 091 



sealed. (Plate VII, Fig. i.) Sometimes, the arteries are put in 

 a fluid. A few vessels have been preserved in isotonic sodium 

 chloride solution. The result was unsatisfactory; for the muscular 

 fibers of the artery were killed in twenty-four hours. The results 

 obtained with Locke's solution were much better. However, a still 

 better method would consist in keeping the vessels in serum of an 

 animal of the same species or in inactivated serum of an animal of 

 different species. The serum is more exactly isotonic for the tis- 

 sues than Locke's solution ; it is slightly bactericidal, and it contains 

 antibodies for the autolytic ferments of the cells. I performed 

 once only the transplantation of a segment of dog's carotid, pre- 

 served in dog's serum for forty-eight hours. Fifteen days after 

 the transplantation, the vessel was examined and found in a perfect 

 microscopical condition. 



The sealed tubes containing the arterial segments are put into a 

 thick-walled ice-box, the temperature of which remains constantly 

 between o and -|- 1° C. The temperature must not go down below 

 0° C. When the vessels have been frozen, the wall presents soon 

 after the transplantation marked microscopical lesions. If the tem- 

 perature is too high, and the operation not thoroughly aseptic, 

 microbian colonies may settle in the wall of the vessels. Oblitera- 

 tion or development of fusiform aneurism are the consequence of 

 these faults of technique. When the operation has been correctly 

 performed, the artery keeps its normal appearance for a long time. 

 After several weeks, its color and consistency are generally normal. 

 The wall is a little softer and the vessel flattens itself more easily. 

 After six, seven and even ten months, the macroscopical appearance 

 of the vessel is not markedly modified. Sometimes it looks com- 

 pletely normal. From a microscopical standpoint, the condition of 

 the arteries is very variable. In some cases, the nuclei of the mus- 

 cular fibers are modified. In other cases they are absolutely normal. 

 A section of a pig's carotid artery, preserved in a sealed tube with 

 a few drops of Locke's solution from April to November, 1908, was 

 entirely normal. It looked as if it had been extirpated from the 

 animal a few moments before being fixed in Zenker's fluid, while it 

 had been preserved for six months outside of the body. 



A few minutes before the transplantation, the tube is removed 



