Rat parathyroid transplantation. Allograft pretreatment with organ culture and antilymphocyte serum.

The hypothesis that tissue culture alters the immunogenicity of grafts and that this alteration of immunogenecity is attributable to loss of passenger leucocytes has been investigated in an inbred rat parathyroid allograft model. DA rat (Ag-B4) parathyroid glands were cultured for up to 3 weeks before allografting into Lewis rat (Ag-B1) recipients. A second series of experiments was performed in which donor-specific antilymphocyte serum was added to the medium during organ culture for up to 3 weeks. Neither method of pretreatment produced prolongation of allograft survival.