The passive transfer of enhancement as applied to skin homografts

Summary and Conclusions Blood and plasma from skin-sensitized rabbits, when perfused through the ears of the sensitizing animals, prolonged the survival of allogenic homografts taken from these ears. Simultaneously placed nonperfused homografts from the same donors were rejected in a normal fashion. Absorption of the antisera with the sensitizing tissue eliminated their enhancing effect. These findings indicate that: a ) Enhancement of normal tissue can be passively transferred with antiserum. b ) There is no need to postulate a distinct “enhancing antibody”; antibodies formed in the course of homograft rejection appear to be effective. c ) In the experimental situation evaluated, antisera act on the graft alone; they do not interfere with systemic sensitization or with the normal development of the mechanisms of the homograft reaction as they affect other, nonenhanced grafts.