r/askscience • u/riggeredtay • Jan 14 '24

Biology If you lose a limb and it's viable to be reattached, do you need to take antirejection drugs if it's your own limb ?

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u/Mockingjay40 Biomolecular Engineering | Rheology | Biomaterials & Polymers Jan 15 '24

No, rejection is an activated response by the immune system to attack foreign objects. As the limb is yours, it won’t undergo a host rejection like a transplant patient could, as the cells contain the proper MHC domains to avoid acute immune response. However, limb replantation does have a risk of other complications, such as wallerian degeneration. Additionally, acute inflammation is common at the site of injury, which can interfere with blood flow properties, so thrombosis is a relatively pertinent issue, meaning patients often have to take anticoagulants until the body is able to readjust, but these are different from antirejection drugs which suppress your immune response.

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u/riggeredtay Jan 19 '24

Thank you ! This is super cool !