Skin Grafting and The Homogeneity of Inbred Mouse Strains
Summary The results of the routine skin grafting on mice from fifteen inbred strains have been collated and examined. It has been shown that when strains are maintained on a modification of the single line breeding system there is an overall frequency of only two per cent of graft rejections with at least six generations between donor and recipient mice. Successful grafts are usually obtained even when donor and recipient mice are separated by as many as fourteen generations. It is suggested that mice not more than two generations from their common ancestor should be used for large scale skin grafting experiments because of the unsuccessful skin transfer between some mice more distantly related. With some mouse strains difficulty of graft healing is apparent, and it has been shown that these results point to a valid difference between the C57 and A strains.