Adams, Richard August2015-07-022015-07-0219561956b14634946https://hdl.handle.net/2144/11580Thesis (Ph.D)--Boston UniversityAn investigation of first-set and second-set skin homografts in hamsters has been made in an attempt to characterize agouti and albino hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) with respect to their genetic homogeneity. This work represents the first reported experimental investigation of skin homografting in hamsters. Attempts to characterize animals with regard to their genetic similarity or dissimilarity by homografting skin are based on the welldocumented observations that homografts fail experimentally unless made between members of highly inbred strains, or succeed clinically ooly when donor and host are identical twins. The most notable exception to this formulation is the recent communication by Eichwald and Silmser (19.55) that even within inbred strains of mice, homografts of sldn from males to females failed , due probably to the Y-linkage of a histocompatibility locus (Hauschka, 1955; Snell, 1956). Snell points out that the fineness of the homograft response to skin, i.e. the complete dependence of successful grafting on genetic identity, may be used more profitably than tumor transplantation tests to explore the "weaker" histocompatibility loci.[Truncated]en-USBased on investigation of the BU Libraries' staff, this work is free of known copyright restrictions.Thesis/Dissertation