Sexual Dimorphism in the Histocompatibility Reactions of Amphibia to Skin Homografts and a Tentative Explanation of Their Mechanism *

THE EFFECTS OF SPLEEN HOMOTRANSPLANTATION ON THE FATE OF SKIN HOMOGRAFTS IN TRITURUS VIRIDESCENS

“…I n other cases the introduction of spleen cells has a general enhancing effect on homografts. This is so far the nearest confirmation of the results and explanation of the multiple skin-graft experiments of Pizzarello and Wolsky (1960). Prehn (1959) has presented data that show that the spleen acts in mice as an immunity (rejection) inhibitor.…”

“…It was known-and the present paper confirms this-that the rejection and resorption of an incompatible skin graft in the Triturus salamander is carried out by a cellular mechanism: lymphocytes, which attack in great numbers and literally eat away the incompatible foreign tissue (see Pizzarello and Wolsky, 1960 (FIGURE 2)). It was known-and the present paper confirms this-that the rejection and resorption of an incompatible skin graft in the Triturus salamander is carried out by a cellular mechanism: lymphocytes, which attack in great numbers and literally eat away the incompatible foreign tissue (see Pizzarello and Wolsky, 1960 (FIGURE 2)).…”

“…In these multiple skin-graft experiments the female skin was promptly rejected and the male skin was tolerated, but only by the male hosts (Pizzarello and Wolsky, 1960). In these multiple skin-graft experiments the female skin was promptly rejected and the male skin was tolerated, but only by the male hosts (Pizzarello and Wolsky, 1960).…”

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Eichwald and Silmser (1955)

drew attention to the characteristic phenomenon occurring in certain cases in skin grafts exchanged between individuals of the same strain of mice but of different sex. In these multiple skin-graft experiments the female skin was promptly rejected and the male skin was tolerated, but only by the male hosts (Pizzarello and Wolsky, 1960).To account for these rather paradoxical results a temporary working hypothesis was constructed (Pizzarello and Wolsky, 1960 (page 51 and following)) which assumed that (1) the male tissues contain more (or more active) antigens than the females-presumably because of some histocompatibility genes on the Y chromosome, which do not exist (or exhibit a negative position effect) on the

Pizzarello and Wolsky (1958), working on Triturus oiridescerrs, found that the Eichwald-Silmser effect, previously reported only in warm-blooded animals, is also present among cold-blooded vertebrates.…”