Experiences in Rat Pancreatic Islet-Cell Isolation and Transplantation

Abstract

Islet-cell transplantation appears to be a fast-growing new subject in the field of experimental research, as a look at the literature shows. There may be two main reasons for this expanding interest: (1) Isolated islets, provided they are clean, undamaged, and numerous, can cure artifically induced diabetes in rats and mice. This means that islet transplantation must be regarded as a potential therapy protocol for the treatment of diabetes in man as well. (2) Isolated islets provide the immunobiologist with an ideal microtissue to analyze and to manipulate in vitro, which is a chance second to none to overcome the problem of “tissue immunogenicity,” regarded as one major barrier in both experimental and clinical transplantation. Whatever the basic interests are, one needs islets of high quality and sufficient quantity. This article aims to draw the reader’s attention to only a few, but vital, technical points concerning isolation, cleaning, and transplantation of islets. Some of the details here may have already been analyzed thoroughly by others and written down elsewhere. These lines reflect the personal views, problems, and experiences of newcomers in the field of experimental islet transplantation.

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 111/B12