Successful islet transplantation depends on the infusion of sufficiently large quantities of islets, of which only approximately 30% become stably engrafted. Rapid and adequate revascularization of transplanted islets is important for islet survival and function. Delayed and insufficient revascularization can deprive islets of oxygen and nutrients, resulting in islet cell death and early graft ...

BACKGROUND The transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene has the strongest genetic association with type 2 diabetes. TCF7L2 also associates with latent autoimmune diabetes in adults, which often presents with a single islet autoantibody, but not with classical type 1 diabetes. METHODS We aimed to test if TCF7L2 is associated with single islet autoantibody expression in pediatric type 1 diab...

The aim of this study was to assess recovery, cell death, and cell composition of post-thaw cultured human islets. Cryopreserved islets were provided by the Clinical Islet Transplant Program, Edmonton, Canada. Islets were processed using media prepared in accordance with Pre-Edmonton and Edmonton protocols. Cryopreserved islets were rapidly thawed and cultured for 24 h, 3 d, 5 d, and 7 d, follo...

Prolonged anoxia has deleterious effects on islets. Gas-permeable cell culture devices can be used to minimize anoxia during islet culture and especially during shipment when elimination of gas-liquid interfaces is required to prevent the formation of damaging gas bubbles. Gas-permeable bags may have several drawbacks, such as propensity for puncture and contamination, difficult islet retrieval...

Pancreatic amyloid is found in patients with insulinomas and type 2 diabetes. To study mechanisms of islet amyloidogenesis, we produced transgenic mice expressing the unique component of human islet amyloid, human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP). These mice develop islet amyloid after 12 mo of high-fat feeding. To determine whether we could accelerate the rate of islet amyloid formation, we c...

Immunofluorescence studies and mixed Iymphocyte islet culture (MLlC) tests were performed using cryopreserved crude human islet preparations l and various HLAas well as cell type-specific monoclonal antibodies in order to (a) locate the potentially immunogenic cells and (b) demonstrate their functional relevance before and after antibody incubation. Microscopic evaluation of exocrine and endocr...

Qualitative and quantitative standards have been recently proposed for islet isolation asaeument in humans and large animals ( 1). The ultimate test of viability is functional activity after transplantation into a diabetic recipient. Morphologic identification of insulin-containing transplanted islets could provide important correlative data and eventually confmn the functional results. Recentl...

Islet-1 is a LIM-Homeodomain transcription factor with important functions for the development of distinct neuronal and non-neuronal cell populations. We show here that Islet-1 acts genetically downstream of Phox2B in cells of the sympathoadrenal cell lineage and that the development of sympathetic neurons and chromaffin cells is impaired in mouse embryos with a conditional deletion of Islet-1 ...

BACKGROUND Reliable in vitro islet quality assessment assays that can be performed routinely, prospectively, and are able to predict clinical transplant outcomes are needed. In this paper we present data on the utility of an assay based on cellular oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in predicting clinical islet autotransplant (IAT) insulin independence (II). IAT is an attractive model for evaluating...