Abstract
Ovarian homografts encapsulated in corneal tissue may survive by the induction of specific immunologic tolerance in the host by the graft or the adaptation of the graft to the host. To test these hypotheses, these grafts were challenged in a series of experiments. Despite challenge grafts of ovarian tissue and skin from the original donor and of ovarian tissue from a “third party” donor, the ovarian tissue within the capsule remained viable for periods up to 30 weeks. A “backgraft” of encapsulated ovarian tissue removed from the recipient after 11 weeks and stripped of its capsule was not rejected after 6 weeks’ residence in the original donor. Rejection times for homografts of ear skin in animals with ovarian homografts were the same as controls. These data indicate that (a) survival was not due to immunologic tolerance and (b) the surviving ovarian tissue was nonantigenic in relation to the host but had not undergone adaptation. It is suggested that the less antigenic cells within the capsules had been “passively” selected for survival by prolonged incubation in an immunologically unfavorable environment.
Published Version
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