[An experimental study on the rejection phenomenon of multi-visceral allografts in pigs]

Multi-visceral allografts including the liver, pancreas and gastrointestinal tract were transplanted in 10 pigs. Eight of them survived for 7 to 21 days. Histopathological changes were studied in the liver, pancreas and gastrointestinal tract. An en bloc transplantation revealed no particular course after transplantation than those individual organ transplantation. The status of rejection was assessed by our histological criteria, which are divided into 5 grades about the liver and 4 grades about other organs according to the severity of the acute rejection. A higher grade of rejection was apparently in the small and large intestine especially after the 10th post-transplanted day (Grade II to III in the small and large intestine v. Grade 0 to II in the liver, stomach and pancreas). The study suggests the existence of organ specific susceptibility to rejection in multi-visceral organ transplantation.