Abstract
In his series of transplantations Loeb concluded that the production of homoiotoxins depends upon the metabolism of the living transplants, whereas heterotoxins may be given off even by non-metabolizing, dead tissue. 1 He further had observed that through graded heating of homoio tissue it was possible to diminish its growth energy before the point is reached where the tumor cells are killed as the result of heating. 2
In the following investigations we exposed xyphoid cartilage of the guinea pig to graded intensities of heat before transplanting it into subcutaneous pockets of other, non-related guinea pigs. Thus we tested the effect of heating on homoiotransplanted cartilage. In other experiments we treated rat cartilage in a similar way, before transplanting it into the guinea pig and thus tested the effect of heating on heterotransplanted tissue. In both series we exposed the cartilage to temperatures which in different experiments varied between 43° and 51° and the time of heating varied between 15 and 45 minutes. In every case the transplant remained in the host for a period of 20 days. In the case of homoiotransplantation we found that heating the cartilage to 47° C. for 30 minutes represents the critical point. Tissues exposed to a lower intensity of heating remained alive and elicited the typical lymphocytic reaction on the part of the host tissue; the connective tissue reaction was also present. Transplants exposed to greater intensities of heat were killed and no longer elicited lymphocytic reactions. At about the critical point the cartilage proper became necrotic after transplantation, while in a number of cases the perichondrium remained alive and produced new cartilage and the surrounding fat tissue was still preserved. At this point the lymphocytic reaction was much diminished or lacking altogether and the connective tissue reaction also was absent or much diminished.
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