In an in vivo guineapig to rat cardiac xenotransplantation model

the prolongation of cardiac xenograft bychinese cobra venom(CCV) was studied. The rats were divided into a control and 2 experimentalgroups.technical control (group A); no treatment (group B) and CCV treatment(group C). Rats were given i.p. of0.2mg. kg-1 . d-1. CCV on day - 3

- 2

- 1 and day 0 relative to heart grafting. The therapy using CCV induced18t10.2hrs graft survival (P<0.01 Vs 0. 25± 0.12h in group B) .Histologic and immunohistologic analysis onrejected hearts revealed the typical lesion of hyperacute rejection and massive C3 deposition in group B

andinterstitial heamorrhge

myocytolysis and a large humber of monocyte infilitration in group C. Our study showedCCV treatment is effective in prolonging the survival time of guineapig cardiac xenografts.