Objective To observe the antigenicity and viability of rat skin after being stored in liquid nitrogen or sodium chloride.Methods Thirty SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups with 10 rats in each group. The full-thickness rat skin was prepared and stored in liquid nitrogen or sodium chloride. After 3 months, MHC-DR and CD86 expression and viability of the treated and fresh rat skins were detected via immunohistochemistry and SYTO/EB dyes, respectively.Results The fresh skin group exhibited the highest expression levels of MHC-DR and CD86 compared with the liquid nitrogen group and sodium chloride group (P < 0.05), yet the expressions of MHC-DR and CD86 were similar in the liquid nitrogen group and sodium chloride group (P > 0.05). More than 50% of the tissues were viable in both liquid nitrogen group and sodium chloride group, and the viability was comparable between the two groups (P > 0.05). In contrast, the tissue viability in the fresh skin group was the highest compared with the liquid nitrogen group and sodium chloride group (P < 0.05).Conclusions Treatment with liquid nitrogen and sodium chloride can weaken the antigenicity of the rat skin. Besides, the tissue viability is similar after being treated with sodium chloride or liquid nitrogen.