Rejection of the Homotransplanted Dog Liver in the Absence of Hepatic Insufficiency. ∗

Abstract

Summary

A method is presented for transplantation of a donor liver into the pelvis of recipient dogs without disturbing the recipient liver. This surgical preparation has been designed for the study of the immunologic rejection of the liver in the absence of hepatic insufficiency and of jaundice. The recipient liver shows only nonspecific changes. No evidence of an immunologic attack of the graft on the host liver is recognizable. The donor liver exhibits transient anoxic changes which do not appear to interfere with hepatic function as judged by its sequential biliary secretion. Bile secretion ceases within 8 days. Piecemeal necrosis, particularly accentuated on the lobular periphery near the portal tracts, leads to a relentless elimination of all liver cells and their replacement by immunologically active cells within 20 days. The initial stage of this rejection resembles the peripheral piecemeal necrosis of chronic active hepatitis and progressing cirrhosis in man.