Decay in rejection of irradiated skin homograft : report of an experiment on albino rats

An experimental study of the effect of pre-transfer irradiated skin homograft on its acceptance in 30 genetically dissimilar albino rats has been reported. Billingham-Medawar technique (1951) was used for homografting. It was found that irradiation dosage of 125γ is optimal; it significantly prolongs the graft survival time compared to other irradiation doses. Non-irradiated graft also has lower survival value. The prolongation of the lifetime of free skin homografts, under these circumstances, may be attributed to alteration of antigenicity of the free graft by X-radiation. This method eliminates the question of radiation or drug damage to the recipient. Since permanent survival is not obtained with irradiation treatment, it is suggested that this may be used in combination with other conventional methods of immunosuppression. (author)