Marrow transplants were carried out between unrelated DLA-nonidentical dogs. Recipients were conditioned for transplantation by total body irradiation (TBI) given eigher as a single dose of 9 Gy (900 rad) or fractionated in three increments of 6 Gy (600 rad) each at intervals of 48 hr. All recipients received marrow, less than or equal to 4 x 10(8) cells/kg, and no buffy coat cells. No immunosuppression was given after grafting. All 10 dogs given single dose total body irradiation failed to show engraftment and died with marrow aplasia and infectious complications (median survival 12 days). In contrast, all 10 dogs given fractionated TBI had sustained engraftment and died with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and infectious complications (median survival 12.5 days). None of the dogs died from radiation-induced gastroenteritis. In conclusion, resistance to DLA-nonidentical unrelated marrow grafts can be abrogated by high-dose TBI. This technique may allow hemopoietic engraftment even after i vitro manipulation of the marrow such as lymphocyte depletion by cell separation or treatment with anti-T cell antisera.