Transplantation reactions in the African lungfish, Protopterus amphibius

Wild caught African lungfish, Protopterus amphibius, were found to reject most first-set cutaneous allografts more slowly than comparable allograft rejection in teleost fishes at a temperature of 24.0 +/- 0.5 C. Second-set allografts made 68 days after first sets were rejected more rapidly, indicating the immunological basis for rejection in this primitive fish. Wide variation in survival times of scale transplants with some surviving in excess of 131 days suggest moderate histoincompatibility systems and substantial sharing of histocompatibility antigens.