HISTOCOMPATIBILITY AND ERYTHROCYTE ANTIGEN VARIABILITY WITHIN HIGHLY INBRED LINES OF WHITE LEGHORNS

Abstract

Variability at loci controlling histoincompatibility within lines of chickens inbred since 1939 was studied using the graft-versus-host reaction in embryos and the homograft reaction in mature males. In some experiments the donors and hosts were characterized for the erythrocyte antigens controlled by the A, B, and C blood group loci. It was found that donor-host differences at the B blood group locus led to massive spleen enlargement in embryos and the prompt rejection of homografts. Neither the A nor C loci appeared to influence either reaction. However, genetic loci other than the loci studied influenced homograft rejection but not the graft-versus-host reaction. This suggests that the homograft reaction may be the more sensitive to minor histocompatibility differences. Over twenty generations of intensive inbreeding, as practiced in these lines, has not produced complete histocompatibility.