Splenic autotransplantation provides protection against fatal sepsis in young but not in old rats.

Splenectomy increases the risk of contracting infections with high mortality. Thus, splenic tissue should be repaired orthotopically whenever possible. If all attempts fail, splenic autotransplantation might be a suitable method for splenic salvage. The protective function of such transplants in adults has been questioned, leading to a decreased frequency of splenic autotransplantations. However, the regeneration of splenic tissue is better in the young organism than in the old, suggesting that the protection provided by regenerated splenic tissue might be more reliable in children than in adults. In addition, children are at a higher risk in the case of overwhelming postsplenectomy sepsis. The protection warranted by regenerated splenic tissue after autotransplantation at different ages was examined using a highly standardized animal model. Sham operation, splenectomy, and splenic autotransplantation were performed on adult, weanling, and newborn rats, and Streptococcus pneumoniae was applied intranasally 9 months after the operation. After pneumococcal challenge about 80% of the splenectomized animals in the different age groups died of infection, whereas only 20% of the sham operated rats died. Regenerated splenic tissue resulting from splenic autotransplantation performed on adult or weanling rats demonstrated no protective function. However, in newborn rats with transplanted splenic tissue, both survival rate and survival time were increased significantly. Determination of lymphocyte subsets in the blood did not allow the protective role of splenic transplants to be predicted. This study indicates that disappointing results of splenic autotransplantation in adult patients should not lead to false pessimism about the role of this operation in children.