Inhibition of Foreign Spleen Reaction by Inactivation of Donor Cells with Recipient Antigen

Abstract

C57BL mouse spleen cells incubated with (C57BL X 101)F₁ liver homogenate killed only 17% of sublethally irradiated (C57BL X 101)F₁ recipients, whereas when incubated with C57BL liver homogenate or injected without incubation such cells killed 100% of sublethally irradiated (C57BL X 101)F₁ recipients within 35 days. Although the immunologically inactivated spleen cells showed a decreased ability to kill, circulating donor-type erythrocytes were found in surviving recipients, indicating repopulation of the bone marrow by surviving graft-derived stem cells. From this, it is inferred that immunologic inactivation did not result from nonspecific destruction of all types of implanted cells.