Volume 36, Issue 6 pp. 564-570

Immunoisolation of Islets in High Guluronic Acid Barium-Alginate Microcapsules Does Not Improve Graft Outcome at the Subcutaneous Site

Alan Kerby

Alan Kerby

Diabetes Research Group, Division of Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences, King's College London, London, UK

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Sara Bohman

Sara Bohman

Department of Medical Cell Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

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Henrik Westberg

Henrik Westberg

Department of Medical Cell Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

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Peter Jones

Peter Jones

Diabetes Research Group, Division of Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences, King's College London, London, UK

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Aileen King

Corresponding Author

Aileen King

Diabetes Research Group, Division of Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences, King's College London, London, UK

Dr. Aileen King, Diabetes Research Group, 2.4N Hodgkin Building, Guy's Campus, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
First published: 28 February 2012
Citations: 14

Abstract

The survival and function of alginate microencapsulated islets is suboptimal when transplanted to the intraperitoneal site of diabetic animals. The large capacity and convenience of the subcutaneous site make it an appropriate and attractive alternative for microencapsulated grafts. Nonencapsulated and high guluronic acid barium-alginate microencapsulated islets were transplanted to the intraperitoneal and subcutaneous sites of diabetic mice. Microencapsulation improved graft success up to 28 days at the intraperitoneal site but not at the subcutaneous site. Samples of microencapsulated islets transplanted into normoglycemic mice confirmed that insulin secretion, insulin content, and adenosine triphosphate content were reduced more significantly in subcutaneous graft islets than intraperitoneal graft islets after 7 days. In addition, a greater proportion of dead cells were observed in the subcutaneous graft islets than in intraperitoneal graft islets after 28 days. We conclude that using alginate microencapsulated islets transplanted to the unmodified subcutaneous site is insufficient to reverse the diabetic state. This finding is likely to be related to the inability of the site to support islet function and viability.

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