Antibody formation in the transplanted spleen: a simple method of splenic transplantation in the rat using the cuff technique.

To study whether transplanted spleens produce antibodies or not, a simplified model of spleen transplantation using the cuff technique was developed. The whole spleen with vascular pedicles was implanted in the syngeneic DA (RT1a) rat combination, using the cuff technique applied to the renal artery and vein of the recipient. The functions of the grafted spleen were tested by antibody formation-titers of antibody in the serum and plaque-forming cells in the graft spleen against xenogeneic [BALB/c (H-2d) mouse] antigen. The grafted spleens included a number of plaque-forming cells, as did the host spleen. This report shows direct evidence that vascularized splenic grafts produced antibodies. The technique is described in detail.