Healing of cortical bone grafts in athymic rats.

We studied healing of allogeneic and syngeneic cortical tibial segment grafts in athymic and normal rats. After 3, 6, and 12 weeks, the weight, circulation, and mineralization rate of the healing segment, and mechanical strength and stiffness of the healing tibia were measured. There were no differences between allogeneic and syngeneic grafts in athymic and normal animals at 3 or 6 weeks. After 12 weeks, the vascularization and mineralization of the grafts, but not of the surrounding callus, were smaller in the allogeneic grafts in the normal recipients than in the other groups. Also after 12 weeks, the stiffness of the healing tibiae was less in allogeneic grafts in normal recipients than in the other groups. The strength of the allogeneic grafts was less than the strength of the syngeneic grafts in both athymic and normal recipients. This suggests that T-cell-mediated rejection is responsible for decreased vascularization and mineralization of allogeneic bone and that the difference in strength between allogeneic and syngeneic grafts is not due to T-lymphocyte graft rejection.