The immunogenicity of glycerol-preserved donor skin

Previous clinical observations have suggested that the application of glycerol-preserved donor skin as a temporary wound dressing provokes a weaker rejection reaction than fresh, vital donor skin. Like others, we frequently observed that considerable parts of the allodermis not only remained on the wound for an extended period of time, but even became re-epithelialized in some cases. In order to quantify this effect, we applied the mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) test in a rat model, using the two highly inbred, histoincompatible rat strains DA and Lewis as donor and recipient respectively. Using the methodology of the Euro Skin Bank, Beverwijk, The Netherlands, split thickness skin, excised from the back of the rats, was equilibrated in 98 per cent glycerol. The immunological reaction after grafting vital DA-skin, glycerolized DA-skin onto Lewis rats, and vital as well as glycerolized Lewis-skin onto Lewis rats was compared. The results of these experiments do not support the clinical observations that the glycerolization procedure results in decreased immunogenicity of donor skin.