Differential susceptibility of cardiac cell populations to in vitro immune injury

In vitro, the culture of enzymatically dissociated fetal heart cells results in the formation of contractile cellular islets surrounded by monolayers of static cells. The islets contract in a spontaneous and synchronous fashion. Using inbred strains of rats sensitized by an allogeneic heart transplant or by three consecutive skin grafts, immune sera were obtained that were assayed at various dilutions against the cell cultures with or without complement. Strain-specific and selective lysis exclusively directed against the static cells was observed. This suggests that noncontractile cells were the specific targets for alloantibody in this fetal heart cell culture system.