Some factors that impact islet transplantation explored in Cell Transplantation papers

Public release date: 6-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: David Eve celltransplantation@gmail.com Cell Transplantation Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair

Tampa, Fla. (June 6, 2012) Two studies appearing in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (21:2/3), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/, evaluate the transplantation potential and success of islet cells derived from pancreatic tissues, in addition to a clinical study that reports the occurrence of adverse events.

Fresh islets are better than cultured islets

A team of researchers from Baylor Research Institute, Texas and the University Graduate School of Medicine in Okayama, Japan has found that islet cells freshly retrieved from the pancreas are superior to islet cells that have been cultured.

"Isolated islet cells deteriorate rapidly in culture," said study lead author Hirofumi Noguchi. "In our study we compared human fresh islet cells to cultured islets with in vitro and in vivo assays. Human islets, fresh and cultured, were transplanted into diabetic nude mice."

The researchers found that cultured islet yield decreased significantly after 24, 48 and 72 hours. The cultured islets showed a 24 percent loss after 48 hours. By comparison, the blood glucose levels of the diabetic mice were significantly lower with fresh islets after injection.

"Although islet culturing provides many benefits, such as quality testing and stability during travel time and treatment, we advocate avoiding culture time or, at least, curtailing culture time," said Dr. Noguchi. "In the future we will work to optimize the culture conditions to minimize islet loss."

Contact: Hirofumi Noguchi, MD, PhD, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Transplant and Surgical Oncology, Okayama University Graduate School of medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2-5-1 Shikata-chop, Okayama 700-8558, Japan. Tel. +81-86-235-7257 Fax. +81-86-221-8775 Email noguchih2006@yahoo.co.jp

Citation: Noguchi, H.; Naziruddin, B.; Jackson, A.; Shimoda, M.; Ikemoto, T.; Fujita, Y.; Chujo, D.; Takita, M.; Peng, H.; Sugimoto, K.; Itoh, T.; Kobayashi, N.; Onaca, N.; Levy, M. F.; Matsumoto, S. Fresh islets are more effective for islet transplantation than cultured islets. Cell Transplant. 21(2/3):517-523; 2012.

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Some factors that impact islet transplantation explored in Cell Transplantation papers