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Aldosterone as well as its antagonist spirolactone prolong the survival time of allogeneic skin grafts from 10 to 14 days. The effect of a xenogeneic rabbit-anti-rat-lymphocyte serum is intensified by aldosterone; rats treated with ALS + aldosterone retained the allogeneic graft 5 days longer than those treated with ALS only. After large amounts of prednisolone the graft prolongation exceeded that of the aldosterone or spirolactone treated animals; the same is true for the combination with ALS. Prednisolone in a dose equivalent to the glucocorticoidal amount of the chosen aldosterone dose has no significant graft prolonging effect compared with the controls. Thus the graft-maintaining effect of aldosterone is believed to be independent of the glucocorticoidal component of this corticosteroid. The stimulation of endogenous aldosterone production is supposed to be responsible for the graft-prolonging effect of the aldosterone antagonist spirolactone. Clinical trials with aldosterone and spirolactone appear permissible in immunosuppressive therapy.

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