Effect of storage in recipient's blood on the immunogenicity of tooth allografts in rabbits.

Dental allografts can immunize recipients against skin allografts because some antigens are shared between teeth and skin. The effect of storage in the recipient's blood (ten days, 4 C) on the immunogenicity of subcutaneously allotransplanted rabbit teeth was examined. Storage in blood depressed the antigenicity of teeth, as detected by prolongation of the rejection time of second-set skin grafts in comparison with teeth stored in saline solution, or fresh, nonstored teeth. Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanism of this procedure.