Immune responses following mouse peripheral nerve xenotransplantation in rats.
Xenotransplantation offers a potentially unlimited source for tissues and organs for transplantation, but the strong xenoimmune responses pose a major obstacle to its application in the clinic. In this study, we investigate the rejection of mouse peripheral nerve xenografts in rats. Severe intragraft mononuclear cell infiltration, graft distension, and necrosis were detected in the recipients as early as 2 weeks after mouse nerve xenotransplantation. The number of axons in xenografts reduced progressively and became almost undetectable at week 8. However, mouse nerve xenotransplantation only led to a transient and moderate increase in the production of Th1 cytokines, including IL-2, IFN-gamma, and TNF-alpha. The data implicate that cellular immune responses play a critical role in nerve xenograft rejection but that further identification of the major effector cells mediating the rejection is required for developing effective means to prevent peripheral nerve xenograft rejection.
Lu
Lai-Jin
LJ
Department of Hand Surgery, First Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin, China.
Sun
Jia-Bing
JB
Liu
Zhi-Gang
ZG
Gong
Xu
X
Cui
Jian-Li
JL
Sun
Xi-Guang
XG
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009336:Necrosis; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000276:immunology
D007376:Interleukin-2; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma