Tissue graft rejection in mice

Abstract

The influence of H-2 subregions on graft survival in a liver slice-tokidney bed grafting system has been investigated. H-2K -region and H-2IA -region donor-recipient differences, either individually or in concert, cause acute graft rejection. H-2D -region donor-recipient differences cause chronic immunological reaction as evaluated by histological criteria. Grafts across this barrier may ultimately be rejected or may survive indefinitely. Several possible explanations for the variation in survival are proposed. The remaining known H-2 regions ( IB, IC, S , and G ) all appear to cause immunological reactivity in a recipient animal which differs from the liver tissue donor at any of these regions. However, only an IC -region difference may ultimately cause complete graft destruction following an extended chronic immunological course. Grafts across background histocompatibility barriers of several genetic types show rejection patterns equivalent to those seen across K and IA barriers. These patterns are unchanged, whether or not the donor and recipient are congenic for H-2 alleles. Different H-2 allelic donor-recipient differences do, however, show different times of survival, indicating variation in strength or number of donor antigens or differences in recipient immune response.