Transplantation of organ cultured rat parathyroids.

The hypothesis that tissue culture alters the immunogenicity of grafts by removal or inactivation of passenger leucocytes has been investigated in an inbred rat parathyroid allograft model. DA rat (Ag-B4) parathyroid glands cultured for up to three weeks in Eagle's minimal essential medium (MEM) alone, or MEM with added donor-specific antilymphocyte serum, did not survive longer than fresh glands when allografted into Lewis rat (Ag-B1) recipients. Subsequent in vitro comparisons of three different culture media established that RPMI 1640 was superior to MEM and Medium 199 for rat parathyroids. However, further series of transplants after culture in RPMI 1640 alone also failed to produce prolongation of allograft survival.