Protective Effect of Implanted Autologous Splenic Tissue in Splenectomized Rats Exposed to i.v. Streptococcus Pneumoniae

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Abstract
The protective effect of splenic implantation or hemisplenectomy on the survival rate was studied in 34 Wistar rats inoculated i.v. with 8.5 .times. 106 colony-forming units of S. pneumoniae type 25. Four months prior to the bacterial challenge, different surgical procedures were performed, dividing the animals into 5 equally large groups: (1) sham operation, (2) hemisplenectomy, (3) splenectomy with a 100% reimplantation, (4) splenectomy with a 50% reimplantation and (5) splenectomy without reimplantation. The observation period after the bacterial inoculation was 13 days. Differences in mean survival rates were found: (1) 13 days, (2) 10.6 days, (3) 7.1 days, (4) 5.6 days and (5) 3.1 days. The increasing survival rates correlated with increasing weights of the residual splenic tissue. This animal study indicates that residual splenic tissue may account for a lesser tendency to infection.