Figure 1. LCs are required for skin graft acceptance, but not rejection.

Partial thickness grafts from FVB Tg⁺ (a) or control (b) mice were stained with for MHC II and counterstained with hematoxylin. Original magnification × 200. (c) Grafts harvested from wt (solid line) and Tg⁺ (broken line) FVB (H-2^q) mice and grafted onto fully mismatched B6 (H-2^b) mice. Both Tg⁺ and wt grafts were rejected with similar kinetics. Control syngeneic B6 grafts (thin line) were accepted indefinitely (> 100 days). (d) Skin grafts harvested from wt or Tg⁺ B6 males and transplanted onto B6 littermate females were rejected with similar kinetics. Control B6 female skin was accepted indefinitely. (e) Wt or Tg⁺ FVB male skin was placed on FVB littermate females. Tg⁺ grafts lacking LCs were rejected much more frequently than wt skin (P<0.001). Female Tg⁺ skin placed on littermate wt females was accepted indefinitely. (f) Wt or Tg⁺ FVB male skin was placed on Tg⁺ FVB littermate females. Tg⁺ grafts lacking LCs were rejected much more frequently than wt skin (P<0.001). Control female wt skin placed on littermate wt females was accepted indefinitely.