title: Inhibition of acute rejection after skin or cardiac transplantation by administration of donor antigens in the rat.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined differences in host immunologic changes induced by the intravenous or intraportal administration of donor antigens at engrafting and evaluated their contribution to graft survival using a rat transplantation model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Lewis rat recipients were given either an intravenous or intraportal injection of donor splenocytes (1 x 10(8)) immediately after receiving skin grafts from Brown Norway donors. The immunologic responses were analyzed by mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) and profiles of interferon-Gamma, interleukin (IL)-2, and IL-10 in MLR supernatants. The effect on cardiac transplantation of perioperative administration of low-dose FK506 (0.1 mg/kg per day) was also examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mixed lymphocyte reactions using splenocytes and sera from recipients treated intraportally were greatly inhibited. Interferon-gamma, IL-2, and IL-10 levels were significantly higher after intraportal treatment compared with intravenous treatment (P < 0.05). When FK506 was injected from day 3, a significant enhancement of cardiac allograft survival was demonstrated by intraportal treatment (16.1 +/- 2.9 days) in comparison to the non-treatment (13.0 +/- 1.7 days, P < 0.05) and intravenous treatment rats (11.7 +/- 2.7 days, P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Th2 deviation induced with intraportal alloantigen administration immediately after engraftment was thus observed to produce a synergistic effect with immunosuppressant treatment to suppress acute rejection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kurume University Faculty of Medicine, 67 Asahimachi, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasumasa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shirouzu
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hikida
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanigawa
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shirouzu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000032:analysis; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000032:analysis; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000032:analysis; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D008297:Male; D011169:Portal Vein; D051381:Rats; D011914:Rats, Inbred BN; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology*; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D007376:Interleukin-2; D016753:Interleukin-10; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D016559:Tacrolimus