“Born-Again Spleens” and Resistance to Infection

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Abstract
To the Editor: We have shown that autoimplantation of spleen into Sprague-Dawley rats results in the growth of splenic tissue of normal or near normal size. Despite the fact that this tissue histologically is indistinguishable from normal spleen, clears 99mTc sulfur colloid and produces antibody to sheep erythrocytes,1 there is a greater than 2000-fold difference in LD50 between control and autotransplanted animals when one challenges them with Streptococcus pneumoniae Type 25.2 Thus, there is little doubt that transplanted splenic tissue does not confer the same protection to the animal as normal spleen does. More recent work has shown that . . .