A comparison of the survival of H-Y incompatible ear, tail, and body skin grafts.

In the H-Y incompatible C57BL/6 male to female system, both tail and ear skin grafts were found to persist longer than body (thorax) skin grafts of the same size and shape. Ear skin grafts of long standing did not affect the survival of subsequent body skin grafts but, in one case, a long-term tail skin graft prolonged the survival of a subsequent body skin gratf, both transplants persisting throughout the life of the host. Whereas ear skin grafts from which cartilage was removed were invariably rejected, several ear skin grafts with cartilage intact survived permanently.