Lesions Characteristic of Secondary Disease In Germfree Heterologous Radiation Chimeras2

Germfree Swiss mice were given a lethal dose of X radiation and then treated with rat bone-marrow cells. A histologic study of the tissues of these mice at various intervals up to 80 days after irradiation revealed lesions in the lymphatic tissues, the skin, the intestinal tract, and the liver that were characteristic of graft-versus-host disease. In contrast to previous findings in conventional animals, these lesions were not complicated by inflammatory changes.