Seventy-two-hour preservation, resuscitation, and transplantation of an isolated rat heart with high partial pressure carbon monoxide gas (PCO = 400 hPa) and high partial pressure carbon dioxide (PCO(2) = 100 hPa).

The cardiac cavity of an isolated rat heart was filled with a Krebs-Henseleit (KH) solution, and the heart was hung in a high-pressure chamber. After the high-pressure chamber had been filled with a mixed gas (PCO = 400 hPa, PCO(2) = 100 hPa, PO(2) = 900 hPa, PHe = 5600 hPa) and preserved for 72 h, we performed a cervical ectopic heart transplantation on a recipient rat and resuscitated the preserved heart. This is the first incidence in the world of a mammalian organ having been successfully preserved and resuscitated after 72 h via a desiccation method.