Growth of neonatal islet graft following transplantation to the BB/Wor rat.

Culture-derived neonatal Fischer-344 (Rtllvl) rat islets have reduced immunogenicity and have been shown to be fully transplantable into Wistar Furth (Rtlu) recipients. In studies designed to test the MHC-restriction of the autoimmune disease process in the BB/Wor rat, MHC-matched (Wistar Furth) and MHC-mismatched (Fischer-344) neonatal islets were isolated by a nonenzymatic tissue culture procedure and transplanted to the renal subcapsular site of BB/Wor rats before the onset of disease. All MHC-mismatched and most MHC-matched grafts survived intact.