HOST-HOMOGRAFT TISSUE INTERACTIONS FOLLOWING EXCHANGE BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS IN RABBITS

Abstract

Under ordinary conditions musculofascial cross-grafts made between pairs of rabbits of the same strain and species elicited classical host-homograft tissue interactions. When the cross-grafting was done 7 to 10 days after exchange transfusions leading to introduction of about 40 per cent of foreign blood, the classical host-homograft reaction failed to develop. In its stead there was an harmonious interaction characterized by abundant vascularization of each graft, with minimal stromal replacement and without a trace of inflammation. This reaction resembled a common type previously described in cross-grafts made between postparabiotic twins but lacked some conspicuous features of the reaction of an animal to grafts of its own tissues.