A comparison of corneal, pancreas, and skin grafts in mice: A study of the determinants of tissue immunogenicity

Abstract

A model of murine heterotopic allogeneic transplantation was used to study the rejection characteristics of three tissues—adult cornea, fetal pancreas, and fetal skin—for attributes that might explain their variation in rejection rates and help define the determinants of graft immunogenicity. Under identical conditions, tissues were transplanted to the renal subcapsular space and their base-line rejection rates compared. The expression of MHC class I and II and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), was determined for each tissue, as was their ability to produce interleukin-6, IL-3, interferon-gamma, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in vitro. These studies were perfo..