Enhanced regeneration of transplanted splenic tissue by increased work load to the splenic compartments

Autologous splenic tissue regenerates after subperitoneal transplantation in laboratory animals and in man. Qualitatively it resembles normal splenic tissue but the quantity usually only attains a small proportion of the normal spleen. In the prevention of overwhelming post-splenectomy sepsis a critical mass and a considerable blood flow to the regenerated spleen seem to be essential. By increasing the work load to splenic transplants in rats, significantly more splenic tissue was regenerated. This was achieved by: stimulating the white pulp by repetitive injections of xenogeneic red cells; stimulating the red pulp by damaging red cells with phenylhydrazine; a combination of 1 and 2; and stimulating the reticuloendothelial system by IP injections of methylcellulose. Stimulating the red pulp and the reticuloendothelial system were more effective than the injection of antigens. As the splenic mass is obviously regulated by the work load, we conclude that this effect should be used to attain the critical splenic mass and to increase the blood flow for effective clearance of bacteria from the blood.