THE COMBINED EFFECT OF PERIOPERATIVE DONOR SPLEEN CELLS OR KC1-EXTRACTED ANTIGEN AND CYCLOSPORINE ON RENAL ALLOGRAFT SURVIVAL IN THE RAT

Abstract

The effects of using perioperative cyclosporine in conjunction with pretreatment with donor spleen cells or 3M KC1 solubilized extracts of donor antigen were investigated in a LEW-to-DA rat renal allograft model. Cyclosporine given orally in a dose of 10 mg/kg/day around the time of transplantation (days −1, 0, +1), did not prolong renal allograft survival (median survival time [MST]—10 days). However when used in combination with pretreatment with either 10⁸ donor spleen cells (1 day before transplantation), or 10⁵ donor spleen cells (7 days before transplantation), pretreatment regimens that were in themselves ineffective, DA recipients accepted Lewis renal allografts indefinitely (MST >100 days). Soluble antigen was prepared by 3M KC1 extraction from donor spleen cells. Absorption assays were used to quantify the amount of class I major histocompatibility complex antigen in the preparation, and amounts of antigen equivalent to that expressed by 10⁶–10⁸ donor spleen cells were used for pretreatment. These soluble antigen preparations given either 1 or 7 days before transplantation with or without perioperative cyclosporine did not prolong allograft survival of either homozygous or heterozygous donors (MST 10 days).