Abstract
Approximately half of the transplantable pancreatic islet tissue is lost during isolation, including the digestion and purification steps. Modifying the isolation method could increase the yield. This would enable the one donor-one recipient concept and improve the therapeutic effects of islet transplantation. This study aims to improve islet transplantation by increasing the yield of islets from the pancreas, both the number of islets and their size. Therefore, we used a sericin-containing isolating solution. Rat pancreatic islets were isolated by collagenase digestion and hand picking. We refer to islets isolated with or without sericin in the isolation solution as the sericin and control group, respectively. Volume yield, endocrine function, and islet morphology were compared between the groups. Histological distribution of sericin was evaluated by immunofluorescence staining to examine its mechanism of action in pancreatic islets. The pancreatic islet yield in the sericin group was significantly higher than that in the control group. The endocrine function of islets in the sericin group was comparable to that of islets isolated by conventional methods. Sericin adhered to the surface of isolated pancreatic islets and colocalized with E-cadherin, a cell membrane protein, which might explain the cytoprotective effects of sericin. The islet morphology tended to be better preserved in the sericin group. Sericin could prevent cytoarchitectural damage during the isolation and purification process, resulting in increased pancreatic islet yield. This suggests that sericin could contribute to islet therapy by enhancing the stability of islets.
Highlights
Half of the transplantable pancreatic islet tissue is lost during isolation, including the digestion and purification steps
The volume of pancreatic islets was significantly higher in the sericin groups than in the control group
The largest volume was seen in the 0.1 % sericin group; it was significantly increased compared to the 0.05 % sericin group (0.05 % sericin group vs. 0.1 % sericin group: 1587 islet equivalent (IEQ) vs. 2245 IEQ; p = 0.039)
Summary
Half of the transplantable pancreatic islet tissue is lost during isolation, including the digestion and purification steps. Modifying the isolation method could increase the yield This would enable the one donor-one recipient concept and improve the therapeutic effects of islet transplantation. Sericin could prevent cytoarchitectural damage during the isolation and purification process, resulting in increased pancreatic islet yield. This suggests that sericin could contribute to islet therapy by enhancing the stability of islets. A sufficient amount of isolated pancreatic islets with excellent endocrine function is required for a successful pancreatic islet transplantation and is essential to achieve a one donor-one recipient ratio instead of a culture or cryopreservation. It is known that physical and/or chemical damages by enzymes decrease the yield by 50 % or more during the process of pancreatic islet isolation (Goto et al 2004; O’Gorman et al 2005), indicating that the method should be modified. The objective of this study was to determine whether adding sericin to the isolation
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