Abrogation of the beneficial blood transfusion effect in dogs by splenectomy

Abstract

The role of the spleen in the manifestation of the transfusion phenomenon was studied in beagle dogs. Beagles were transfused 3 times with 100 ml blood from different mismatched mongrel dogs, at 4, 3, and 2 weeks before mongrel kidney transplantation or splenectomy. Seven transfused dogs were splenectomized 1 week before transplantation, 9 transfused animals were not splenectomized, and a group of 9 kidney allografted controls was neither transfused nor splenectomized. All recipients were given postoperative immunosuppression, which consisted of azathioprine and prednisolone.As with earlier demonstrations it was found that 3 pretransplant blood transfusions in the nonsplenectomized group led to a significant prolongation of kidney graft survival. All transfused animals survived for more than 3 weeks, a period in which more than 50% of the kidneys in the control group were rejected. Four out of 9 transfused dogs became long-term survivors. In the transfused-splenectomized group, 70% of the recipients rejected their kidney acutely within 3 weeks, and only one animal became a long-term survivor. The absence of a transfusion effect in most of the splenectomized dogs suggests that, under the experimental conditions employed, the spleen plays a crucial role for the induction and manifestation of the transfusion phenomenon.