Prolonged survival of skin allografts in mallards.
Skin allografts were exchanged between 25 males and 25 female mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) within 2 days after hatching. Of the 42 ducks that survived and whose grafts healed, 14% rejected rapidly before the grafts became feathered, 20% rejected between 3-6 weeks, and one duck rejected when he was 10 weeks old. Twenty-seven of the 42 ducks (64%) retained their grafts for at least 5 months. The results demonstrate that, in mallards, neither inbreeding nor any treatment of the host is necessary for prolonged survival of skin allografts made shortly after hatching.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D004372:Ducks / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D008297:Male; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013997:Time Factors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous