Desensitisation of neonatal rat pups for xenotransplantation with human tissues

We describe the steps involved in desensitising neonatal rat pups to xenogenic tissue on or around the day of birth. This method allows animals to be desensitised to the xenogenic tissue and therefore prevents any subsequent graft rejection. Mature desensitised animals can be transplanted with similar xenogenic tissue without the need for any other form of immunosuppression, thus allowing long term experiments to be carried out.