Long-Term Study of Vascularized Free-Draining

This work was presented in part at the 40th annual meeting of American Diabetes Association, Washington, D. C., June 1979. Diabetes. 29: 8A. (Abstr.) Receivedfor publication 2July 1980 and in revisedform 22 September 1980. 292 lymnphocytotoxicity (CML) assays revealed increases in CML before graft rejection in low MLC reactors, and decreases in both CML and MLC responses before graft rejection in high MLC reactors. FDPS graft survival was indefinite (>6 mo) in group II dogs, despite lowgrade MLC reactivity (2:4 dogs) and CML responses (4:4 dogs). Biopsies ofFDPS grafts at 6 mo in normoglycemic dogs showed disappearance of exocrine tissue and coalescence of islets in both groups I and II, but with less fibrosis in group I (immunosuppressed). These results indicate that (a) pancreatic islets in vascularized grafts (FDPS) may survive indefinitely in the presence of a good tissue match best predicted by MLC testing, (b) tissue specific histocompatibility factors appear to be common enough between kidney and pancreas to allow for long-term survival of both organs transplanted from the same donor, at least in appropriate recipients (group II), and (c) immilunosuppression is associated with less fibrosis in FDPS allografts.