Organ xenografting between rodents: an evolutionary perspective

Rejection times of heart xenografts in several donor-recipient combinations including the guinea pig, rat, hamster, and mouse are examined in light of the paleontological history of rodents and the resulting phylogenetic distances between taxa. This multidisciplinary review at the molecular, chromosomal and morphological levels suggests that xenograft rejection time is inversely proportional to the time divergence or phylogenetic distance, and that the binomial terminology concordant/discordant does not reflect the amplitude of phylogenetic distances.