Bilateral kidney translocation in sheep

By Baird, A.N. - Brown, S.A. - Jones, L.P.

Bilateral kidney translocation was performed on 7 adult sheep. In each sheep, we took 9 renal biopsy specimens (40 mg each) percutaneously between 36 and 110 days after surgery. The serum urea nitrogen and creatinine concentrations remained normal, at least through post-operative day 66 (7 biopsy specimens). The 7 sheep were euthanatized and necropsied 113 days after surgery; 75 to 90% of each kidney was normal. The only abnormal areas of each kidney were attributable to resolving biopsy lesions. This surgical model may allow for fewer animals to be used for tissue residue or nephrotoxicity studies.