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(Circulation. 1971;43:I-120.)
© 1971 American Heart Association, Inc.

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Rat Heart Allograft Survival with Donor Pretreatment

JAN S. FREEMAN M.D.¹; E. CHAMBERLAIN M.S.¹; KEITH REEMTSMA M.D.¹; DAVID STEINMULLER PH.D.¹

¹ From the Departments of Surgery, Radiology, and Pathology, University of Utah Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Heterotopic rat heart transplants from Ag-B compatible Fischer strain donors to Lewis recipients were monitored by daily ECG. The median survival time (MST) of control grafts was 12.8 days. Pretreatment of donors with whole-body radiation, cyclophosphamide, or antilymphocyte serum resulted in MST of 19.7, 18.0, and 17.8 days, respectively. Local irradiation of the heart alone did not prolong survival beyond control values, whereas whole-body irradiation with the heart shielded did, indicating that the prolongation achieved by donor pretreatment with radiation, at least, was a systemic rather than local effect. Only slight prolongation was achieved by donor radiation in the Ag-B incompatible BN to Lewis strain combination, demonstrating the importance of histocompatibility matching for the effectiveness of donor pretreatment.

Key Words: Heart transplant • Histocompatibility matching in donor pretreatment