Influence of recipient pretreatment with donor spleen cells and 15-deoxyspergualin on rat skin graft survival.

Experimental studies performed in rat kidney transplantation showed that treatment with 15-deoxyspergualin (15-DOS) for 14 days after grafting may induce both permanent graft function and specific immune tolerance. The aim of this study was to check if donor spleen cell transfer and 15-DOS pretreatment before transplantation prolong skin graft survival. Pretreatment of the recipient with donor cells induced slight prolongation of subsequent skin graft survival. Addition of 15-DOS pretreatment for 14 days in a dose of 2.0 mg/kg b.w. to cell transfer did not influence survival of the graft. On the other hand, in the recipients receiving allogeneic spleen cells before transplantation and subtherapeutic doses of 15-DOS directly after grafting the prolongation of skin graft survival was observed. These results indicate that pretreatment of the recipients with donor cells before allogeneic skin transplantation allows for reduction of immunosuppression after grafting.