Transplantation Immunogenetics and MLC Reactivities of Partially Inbred Strains of Salamanders (A. Mexicanum): Preliminary Studies

Abstract

Allograft rejection in field collected representatives from at least 11 different genera of urodele amphibians is typically chronic in that median survival times (MSTs) range from approximately 30–50 days (1). Although such chronicity may be experimentally varied by temperature or by the criterion selected as a survival end point (2), it is more important that it reflects donor — host antigenic disparities at what appear to be the urodelean equivalents of murine “minor” histocompatibility or H-loci (3). In the absence of appropriate breeding studies we have only been able to speculate as to the number of H-loci in a given population or species, the number of alleles at each locus, and the frequency of alleles within any population under analysis. Similarly, in the absence of testable criteria other than graft survival times we have only been able to speculate as to whether urodeles really lack a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) comparable in its complexity, polymorphism, and immunologic relevance to the H-2 system of mice (4) or the HL-A complex of man (5). Currently we are aware of two potential sources of urodeles typed for histocompatibility factors. These are the Pleurodeles waltlii developed by Gallien and now being used in immunologic studies by Charlemagne and Tournefier (6) and the DeLanney colony of Ambystoma mexicanum (axolotls; 7). The purpose of this paper is to provide preliminary data derived from these partially inbred strains of axolotls that concern the number of H-loci in this species and the immunogenicity of their products.