Compte-rendu de congrès Schweiz Med Wochenschr 1998;128:860-6

Isolement d'îlots de Langerhans porcins: évaluation de la fonction in vitro et in vivo FOURNIER, Béatrice, et al. Pig islets are considered the best alternative to human islets in the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes. Pigs could represent a potential islet donor for xenotransplantation in humans because of the close similarity between human and porcine insulin and the theoretically unlimited availability of porcine pancreas. From November 1991 to January 1997 we performed 221 pig islet isolations from 3 pig sources: group 1: minipigs (age 9-18 months) and white pigs (3-8 months), group 2: large white pigs (5-8 months), group 3: large white pigs (12-24 months). Islets were isolated according to a semi-automated method using enzymatic digestion and purification through discontinuous Euro-Ficoll gradients. The pancreases were surgically removed in our laboratory for group 1, while pancreases from groups 2 and 3 were removed at the slaughterhouse with an average warm ischemia time of 15 minutes. In vitro islet function was assessed by static incubations and perifusions, and in vivo islet function by transplantation under the kidney capsule of nude diabetic mice. The results were as follows: [table: see text] Insulin secretion [...] FOURNIER, Béatrice, et al. Isolement d'îlots de Langerhans porcins: évaluation de la fonction in vitro et in vivo. Schweizerische medizinische Wochenschrift, 1998, vol. 128, no. 22, p