Induction of tolerance to cardiac allografts in lethally irradiated rats reconstituted with syngeneic bone marrow

Generally, organ grafts from one individual animal to another are rejected in one-two weeks. However, if the recipients are given Total Body Irradiation (TBI) just prior to grafting, followed by reconstitution of hemopoietic function with syngeneic (recipient-type) bone marrow cells, then vascularized organ grafts are permanently accepted. Initially after irradiation, it is possible to induce tolerance to many strain combinations in rats. This thesis examines the system of TBI as applied to the induction of tolerance in LEW recipients of WF cardiac allografts. These two rat strains are mismatched across the entire major histocompatibility complex. When the LEW recipient are given 860 rads, a WF cardiac allograft and LEW bone marrow on the same day, 60% of the grafts are accepted. Methods employed to improve the rate of graft acceptance include: treating either donor or recipient with small amounts of methotrexate, or waiting until two days after irradiation to repopulate with bone marrow. It seems from these investigations of some of the early events in the induction of tolerance to allografts following TBI and syngeneic marrow reconstitution that an immature cell population in the bone marrow interacts with a radioresistant cell population in the spleen to produce tolerance to completely MHC-mismatched allografts