Pituitary transplantation: cyclosporine enables transplantation across a minor histocompatibility barrier

Pituitary glands from neonatal donors were transplanted to the median eminence of hypophysectomized adult rats. Rats with transplants were then treated for 2 weeks with the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporine. For 5 weeks thereafter, blood was drawn at regular intervals for determination of serum thyroxine, prolactin, and luteinizing hormone. Cyclosporine-treated recipients of grafts with minor histocompatibility differences had normal levels of thyroxine and prolactin, whereas untreated animals did not. In addition, the treated animals responded to oophorectomy with a marked elevation in serum luteinizing hormone. This evidence indicates that cyclosporine enables successful transplantation across a minor histocompatibility barrier. It also suggests that these grafts interact with the hypothalamus. Transplantation across a major histocompatibility barrier was unsuccessful even in the presence of cyclosporine.