Dolph Houben

126 CHAPTER 6 Figure 7 : the proportion of SRY present in cross-sections of the allotransplants after 20 weeks. This proportion has been calculated by the formula described in the methods. Where we set the relative copy number of SRY in male control samples as 100%. No significant difference could be found between the groups. The patent AV bundle group had a mean of 1.7 x10 -3 % of SRY (SD: 2.5x10 -3 ), whereas the ligated group had a mean of 1.7x10 -2 % (SD: 2.4x10 -2 ). Liver and spleen samples To evaluate if systemic microchimerism occurred in recipients, we analyzed liver and spleen samples. In gDNA samples, the SRY gene was below the level of detection, indicating that microchimerism in these organs is negligible (Fig. 8). Figure 8: q-PCR analyses of gDNA extracted from pulverized liver and spleen samples. No mixed chimerism was found at 20 weeks after transplantation.