Analysis of neonatally induced tolerance of H-2 alloantigens. IV. Graft adaptation in long-term tolerated grafts.
Acceptance of orthotopic test skin grafts bearing putative tolerogenic H-2 determinants proves to be the most stringent criterion for the existence of neonatally induced transplantation tolerance. The large majority of long-standing grafts retain their original antigenicity--that is, they are rejected when tolerance is abolished by infusions of immunocompetent cells syngeneic with the tolerant host; and they remain immunogenic--that is, they induce their own rejection when excised and placed on naive recipients syngeneic with the tolerant animal. However, the ability of these long-standing grafts to reflect concordantly the alloreactive potential of peripheral lymphoid cells of tolerant mice deteriorates in time. A minority of tolerated grafts lose their ability to express their genetic endowment of H-2 alloantigens in an immunogenic form through a process of graft adaptation. Because the majority of long-standing Ia-disparate grafts remain immunogenic when transplanted to naive recipients, the adaptation process can not be ascribed exclusively to repopulation of original epidermal Langerhan's cells with similar cells of host origin.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000276:immunology*; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006085:Graft Survival; D006183:H-2 Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D051379:Mice; D016038:Skin Transplantation
D006183:H-2 Antigens