AIM To identify the types of endocrine cells in the pancreas of the Sunda porcupine (Hystrix javanica) and its immunolocalization. MATERIALS AND METHODS Five adult H. javanica were used without sexual distinction. The presences of endocrine cells (glucagon, insulin, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide [PP]) in pancreatic tissues were detected using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex me...

A preliminary study revealed pancreatic hyperplasia to be present in 29 per cent of 100 consecutive necropsies. Malignant neoplasms coexisted with hyperplasia of islets in 14 (48.3 per cent) of the 29 cases. On the basis of the results of this study, the islets of Langerhans in microscopic sections of pancreas from 20 cases of accidental death (normal controls), 10 cases of extrapancreatic lymp...

OBJECTIVE To elucidate the role of a modern diagnostic laboratory in the management of diabetes mellitus. SOURCES OF DATA Available literature on local and international studies on the role of the laboratory in the management of diabetes mellitus. RESULTS Preclinical diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, good monitoring of short, medium and long-term glycaemic control necessary to avoid diabetic ...

Nineteen-ninety was a significant year for clinical islet transplantation, since after many attempts reports of short terml and prolonged2.6 insulin independence following human islet allotransplantation, indicated that it is possible to replace the endocrine function of the pancreas by an islet transplant in man. The development of improved procedures for islet isolation and purification from ...

Diabetes is characterized by hyperglycemia that can result from the loss of pancreatic insulin secreting β-cells in the islets of Langerhans. We analyzed ex vivo the entire gastric and duodenal lobes of a murine pancreas using extended-focus Optical Coherence Microscopy (xfOCM). To identify and quantify the islets of Langerhans observed in xfOCM tomograms we implemented an active contour algori...

Intrahepatic islet transplantation provides a potentially more benign alternative to pancreatic transplantation. However, islet transplants are associated with limited engraftment potential. This inefficiency is likely at least partially attributable to the isolation process, which removes islets from their native environment. Isolation not only disrupts the internal vascularization and innerva...

Encapsulation of tissue has been an area of intense research with a myriad number of therapeutic applications as diverse as cancer, tissue regeneration, and diabetes. In the case of diabetes, transplantation of pancreatic islets of Langerhans containing insulin-producing beta cells has shown promise toward a cure. However, anti-rejection therapy that is needed to sustain the transplanted tissue...

Currently, for the patient with type 1 diabetes, a definitive treatment without resorting to the use of exogenous insulin can be achieved only with pancreas or islet cell transplantation. These means of restoring beta-cell mass can completely maintain essentially normal long-term glucose homeostasis, although the need for powerful immunosuppressive regimens limits their application to only a su...

Pancreatic islets can adapt to oscillatory glucose to produce synchronous insulin pulses. Can islets adapt to other oscillatory stimuli, specifically insulin? To answer this question, we stimulated islets with pulses of exogenous insulin and measured their Ca2+ oscillations. We observed that sufficiently high insulin (> 500 nM) with an optimal pulse period (~ 4 min) could make islets to produce...

THE most successful outcome of pancreatic islet allotransplantation has been in patients with upper abdominal malignancies who have undergone cluster resection followed by liver replacement. I.2 Between January 1990 and June 1992. 11 patients underwent this procedure; six (55%) of whom were insulin-independent until demise, due to recurrence of the primary disease. We report herein. a 58-month ...