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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Transplant. 2012 Dec 3;13(2):467–473. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2012.04337.x

Figure 1. Immunosuppressive protocols used for development of OB in the ferret transplant model.

Figure 1

(A) The transplanted animals were started on azathioprine (2 mg/kg) and methyl prednisone (1 mg/kg) on the day of surgery and continued on that dose for 4 weeks. The dose was then tapered to half dose for the following 4 weeks and then the drugs were terminated if CT did not visualize acute rejection. The CT scan was used to monitor the allograft every 2 weeks and if the graft worsened the drugs were restarted at half dose or full dose depending on the severity CT appearance. If the CT returned to normal, the animals were weaned off drugs again. This cycle was repeated 1–2 times before the animal was euthanized. (B–D) Effects of tapered immunosuppression in allograft as assessed by CT (arrows point to the allografts). (B) Animals retained on high dose immunosuppression the allografts remained normal on the CT scan. (C) Abrupt cessation of the drugs resulted in a host alloresponse and the graft appearance on the CT scan changed. (D) Cycling of drugs as shown in the protocol in Figure 1A allowed a controlled immune response without graft loss.