Effect of newborn splenectomy on homograft survival in inbred mice

Splenectomy was carried out in newborn and in 3-, 6-, and 9-day-old mice. The survivors and their sham-operated litter mates were homografted with skin at 42+ days of age. The survival times of the homografts were normal and identical in the two groups of mice. These results suggest that splenectomy at birth and shortly thereafter does not alter the immunologic mechanism responsible for homograft rejection in mice.