Protective Effect of Implanted Autologous Splenic Tissue in Splenectomized Rats Exposed to i.v. Streptococcus Pneumoniae

Abstract

The protective effect of splenic implantation or hemisplenectomy on the survival rate was studied in 34 Wistar rats inoculated intravenously with 8.5 × 106 CFU Streptococcus pneumoniae type 25. 4 months prior to the bacterial challenge, different surgical procedures were performed, dividing the animals into 5 equally large groups: (1) sham operation, (2) hemisplenectomy, (3) splenectomy with a 100% reimplantation, (4) splenectomy with a 50% reimplantation, and (5) splenectomy without reimplantation. The observation period after the bacterial inoculation was 13 d. Differences in mean survival rates were found: (1) 13 d, (2) 10.6 d, (3) 7.1 d, (4) 5.6 d, and (5) 3.1 d. The increasing survival rates correlated with increasing weights of the residual splenic tissue. This animal study indicates that residual splenic tissue may account for a lesser tendency to infection.

Effect of Splenectomy and Autologous Spleen Transplantation on the Serum Platelet-Activating Factor Acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH) Activity and Acute Phase Response (APR) in a Porcine Model

“…The capability of regenerated splenic autotransplants of recovering its primary immune function is still controversial. Although many studies reported immunoprotective effects of implanted autologous splenic tissue against infection in rats [7][8][9][10][11] as well as in man [12,13], a few other studies observed no beneficial effects [14][15][16].…”