Allotransplantation of human parathyroid tissue without immunosuppression.

Organ culture facilitates successful transplantation of endocrine tissue in allogenic and xenogenic rodent systems. The major obstacle in applying this approach to human tissue is the difficulty in keeping adult human tissue alive in organ culture for a prolonged period. For this reason we have used an in vivo culture system that allows preservation of endocrine tissue for weeks or months. C57BL/6 (H-2b) thyroid grafts transplanted beneath the kidney capsule of Balb/c (H-2d) nude mice and retransplanted 15 days later to CBA (H-2k) mice survive indefinitely without immunosuppression. We report here the use of the "interim host system" for allogenic parathyroid tissue in two patients with long-standing hypoparathyroidism after total thyroidectomy.