Mercuric chloride nephritis depends on host rather than kidney strain.

Brown-Norway (BN) rats are susceptible to the induction of an autoimmune glomerulonephritis (GN) by HgCl2 while Lewis (LEW) rats are resistant. When a kidney from a LEW rat (nonsusceptible) is transplanted into a binephrectomized (LEW X BN)F1 hybrid (susceptible) then HgCl2 injections into the recipient result in GN developing in the donor kidney. When a kidney from a BN or (LEW X BN)F1 hybrid (susceptible) is transplanted into a nonsusceptible rat, injections of HgCl2 into the recipient do not result in GN in the donor kidney. These observations show that kidneys from nonsusceptible rats function as susceptible targets and that induction of the disease depends more on the host immune system than on modification of kidney determinants by HgCl2.