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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Murine Skin Transplantation
06:42

Murine Skin Transplantation

Published on: January 16, 2008

Skin allograft rejection

Hugh I McFarland1, Amy S Rosenberg1

  • 1Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, Maryland.

Skin allograft rejection is a test of the competence of T lymphocytes to mediate in vivo tissue destruction, which in turn reflects their role in critical functions such as anti-viral and tumor immunity. The tail-skin graft procedure described in this unit is useful predominantly because of the ease of preparation and resistance to ischemic (nonspecific) necrosis. Additionally, it is not necessary to sacrifice the donor mouse. However, rejection of tail-skin grafts should not be used to test for genetic homogeneity in breeding experiments or to detect minor histocompatibility (minor-H) antigens because tail skin is less sensitive than trunk skin in detecting such differences.

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