A method is described for separation of polyribosomes from as few as 25 isolated Islets of Langerhans, representing about 250 mug of pancreatic tissue. Islets are labeled with [(3)H]leucine and polysomes are isolated with liver polyribosomes, which serve as carrier and inhibitor of ribonuclease activity. Islets incubated at 37 degrees C for 45 min in 15.5 mM glucose, then pulsed with [(3)H]leuc...

The beta-cells in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas secrete insulin and play an important role in glucose homeostasis. Diabetes, characterized by hyperglycemia, results from an absolute or a relative deficiency of the pancreatic beta-cell mass. Islet transplantation has been considered to be a useful therapeutic approach, but it is largely unsuccessful because most of the transplanted is...

Expression of immune modulating mediators in human Islets of Langerhans could have important implications for development of autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes and influence the outcome of clinical islet transplantation. Islets obtained from five donors were analyzed at various times after isolation using cDNA array technology. The Atlas Human Cytokine/Receptor and Hematology/Immunology nylon memb...

The transplantation of islets of Langerhans has been successfully applied to the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes. However, a shortage of human donors is the hardest obstacle to overcome. We aimed to develop a bioartificial pancreas that can realize xeno-islet transplantation. The islets were encapsulated in agarose microbeads carrying the soluble domain of human complement receptor 1 (s...

Disuse and aging are associated with changes in glucose metabolism and insulin responsiveness of skeletal muscle. However, their combined effects on the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas and serum insulin levels have not been studied. The goal of this study was to investigate the response of the pancreas to disuse, induced by hind limb suspension (HS), in young and old animals. Male Fisher 3...

Understanding the entry of autoreactive T cells to their target organ is important in autoimmunity because this entry initiates the inflammatory process. Here, the events that lead to specific localization of diabetogenic CD4 T cells into islets of Langerhans resulting in diabetes were examined. This was evaluated in two models, one in which T cells specific for a hen-egg white lysozyme (HEL) p...

The islets of Langerhans constitute the endocrine part of the pancreas and are responsible for maintenance of blood glucose homeostasis. They are deeply embedded in the exocrine pancreas, limiting their accessibility for functional studies. Understanding regulation of function and survival and assessing the clinical outcomes of individual treatment strategies for diabetes requires a monitoring ...

The autonomic nervous system regulates hormone secretion from the endocrine pancreas, the islets of Langerhans, thus impacting glucose metabolism. The parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves innervate the pancreatic islet, but the precise innervation patterns are unknown, particularly in human. Here we demonstrate that the innervation of human islets is different from that of mouse islets and do...

Islets of Langerhans are fundamental in understanding diabetes. A healthy human pancreas from a donor has been used to asses various islet parameters and their three-dimensional distribution. Here we show that islets are spread gradually from the head up to the tail section of the pancreas in the form of contracted or dilated islet routes. We also report a particular anatomical structure, namel...