Fetal and neonatal fatality in rat hybrids from mothers stimulated with parental skin.
A breeding experiment was conducted in which MAXX female rats were mated with BN male rats. These two strains of inbred rats are identical for AgB antigens and differ only in antigens governed by minor histocompatibility loci. MAXX females, which were exposed before pregnancies to four BN skin grafts, delivered 117 offspring of which 28 (23.9%) were stillborn and 10 (8.5%) dead within 24 hr of birth. In contrast, of 126 offspring in control groups, only one was stillborn and one dead within 24 hr. In BN-grafted MAXX females, placentas were partially necrotic with marked polymorphonuclear reaction, which could account for stillbirths or the newborn deaths shortly after birth. The stillborn fetuses had grossly noticeable wrinkled skin. Histologically, the architecture of the epidermis was disturbed. The dermis was edematous and contained occasional mononuclear cells.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D009026:Mortality; D010920:Placenta / Q000473:pathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D011914:Rats, Inbred BN; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous