Comparisons Between Survival of Grafted Skin, Ovaries, and Tumors in Mice Across Histocompatibility Barriers of Different Strength2

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The survival of grafted skin, ovaries, and tumors in mice was compared in various donor-recipient combinations involving weak (non-H-2) histocompatibility differences. Skin grafts were uniformly rejected while tumor grafts readily transgressed the weak barriers which could nevertheless be revealed by small inoculums and preimmunized recipients. Ovarian grafts showed a behavior intermediate in degree between skin and tumor grafts. They often, but not always, survived in spite of the weak histoincompatibility and, although infiltrated with inflammatory cells, continued to function during the entire observation period of 250 to 400 days. Although skin was uniformly rejected in untreated animals of the same donor-host systems, it showed an unexpectedly high rate of survival when grafted upon animals carrying a surviving ovary from the same donor genotype. Random selection of genetically compatible recipients could be safely excluded, and the findings were viewed as possibly related to such phenomena as acquired tolerance, immunological enhancement, and immunoparalysis.