The Irradiated Hamster Test

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Abstract
Lethally irradiated albino hamsters have been used as immunologically inert hosts for the display of cellular homograft sensitivity reactions elicited in the skin of these animals using lymphoid cells from human volunteers. Lymphoid cell mixtures from identical twins incite reactions indistinguishable from controls, whereas, in general, mixtures from unrelated individuals produce lesions with scores ranging from 1 to 4+. Scores tend to be low when the cell mixture is obtained from genetically related pairs and high when genetically unrelated individuals are involved. Three groups of 4 adult volunteers each were utilized to compare scores of skin reactions induced by mixtures of lymphocytes from 18 pair combinations with survival times of skin homografts exchanged between the members of each pair. In this experiment, a positive correlation was found between the score of the lymphocyte mixture and the length of time necessary for the first exchanged skin homograft to be rejected for each pair. In general, a score of less than 2+ indicated relative histocompatibility, i.e. both members accepted the other''s skin homograft for 12 or more days. Thse findings are discussed with regard to the Irradiated Hamster Test''s possible usefulness as a typing maneuver in selecting donors for homotransplantation in man.