THE SENSITISING PROPERTIES OF RENAL PERFUSATE

Abstract

SUMMARY

Rat kidneys of the AS2 strain were perfused in vitro and the perfusate was injected into AS rats. After 9 days, these rats were challenged with AS2 skin grafts to see if they had become sensitised. Graft rejection was assessed by the degree of epithelial necrosis that had occurred after 6 days. Rats injected with perfusate obtained after 2 hr of perfusion become specifically immunised. Other rats injected with a later aliquot of perfusate (2–4 hr of perfusion) showed a poorer response. An additional group received the deposit obtained on centrifuging the perfusate; these rats became strongly sensitised. A fourth group, which had been injected with the supernatant, remained unimmunised. Twelve AS rats received AS2 renal allografts after 2 hr of renal perfusion. The median survival time was not significantly increased over that of a group of 18 rats that had received transplants of nonperfused kidneys. It would seem from these results that rat kidneys normally harbour a population of cells that are highly immunogenic. Such cells may be easily removed by perfusion, but loss of these cells does not render a kidney any less susceptible to rejection when transplanted.