Skin Transplantation as a Means of Analyzing Factors in Production and Growth of Feathers.

Abstract

In most breeds of fowl there is a well marked sexual dimorphism in the color and structure of adult feathers. Experimental or pathological alteration of the endocrine balance has been shown 1 to produce striking reversals and modifications in these characters. Our problem has been to find a new method of attack which would yield further information on (a) the extent to which the output of a feather follicle is controlled by the endocrine relations which obtain at the time the feather is produced, and (b) the extent to which it is determined by characteristics which are inherent in the follicle itself. The procedure has been to transplant pieces of skin from one newly hatched chick to another and, some months later, to compare the feather production of the donor, the host and the skin originally transferred from the former to the latter.

The technique is simple. Young chicks were found to take the anesthetic (ether) very satisfactorily. They recover quickly and do not suffer from infections when moderate care is exercised. The grafts are easily held in place by interrupted silk sutures, which usually fall out spontaneously, but may occasionally remain and serve as good landmarks over a period of several months. The general results obtained thus far may be briefly summarized.

1. The percentage of initial “takes” is high, but many grafts after having become well established are subsequently lost. Such grafts often appear entirely successful at first, and produce normal pin feathers or even fully developed feathers. The cause of these failures has not been studied, but the distribution of cases with reference to sex and breed suggests varying degrees of incompatibility between donor and host. This type of experiment promises to be very favorable for the study of differences in tissue reactions and “individuality differentials.”