Interstrain Ovarian Transplantation in Lethally Irradiated Mice After Bone Marrow Therapy

Abstract

SINCE Lorenz et al. ¹ demonstrated that survival time of lethally irradiated mice is increased by intravenous injection of bone marrow, it has been shown that this phenomenon results from repopulation of hæmatopoietic tissues by the injected cells (see Congdon² for review). Main and Prehn³ reported that irradiated mice of the DBA/2JN strain that had been given bone marrow from (BALB/cAnN × DBA/2JN)F ₁ hybrids accept grafts of BALB/cAnN skin. Such grafts usually fail both in irradiated animals and in irradiated animals that have received injections of isologous bone marrow. Trentin⁴ showed further that irradiated strain CBA mice that had been given bone marrow from strain C3H donors accept skin grafts from both CBA and C3H animals. Similarly, Barnes et al. ⁵ found that irradiated CBA animals given strain A bone marrow succumb when inoculated with tumours specific for either of these strains. The experiments described here show that lethally irradiated (101 × C3H)F ₁ female mice given strain A bone marrow will accept ovarian transplants from either (101 × C3H)F ₁ hybrids or strain A donors. These treated females are capable of giving birth and of nursing and raising young.