Pulsatile pump perfusion of pancreata before human islet cell isolation

Machine pulsatile perfusion for whole pancreas preservation might improve yield, viability, and function of human islets recovered after prolonged cold ischemia times. Four human pancreata were procured from cadaver donors (1 non-heart-beating donor) and stored in cold University of Wisconsin (UW) solution for a mean 13 hours prior to placement on a machine pulsatile perfusion device. The four pancreata were perfused for 4 hours with UW solution before undergoing islet isolation. Islets were quantified, viability was assessed, and insulin secretion was measured. Results were compared with nonpumped islet isolations stratified for cold ischemia time (CIT) <8 hours or cold ischemia time >8 hours. The islet yield for the four pumped pancreata was 3435 (+/-1951) islet equivalents/gram pancreas tissue (IEQ/g), compared with a mean yield of 5134 (+/-2700) IEQ/g and 2640 (+/-1000) IEQ/g from pancreas with <8 hours and >8 hours CIT, respectively. The mean viability after machine pulsatile perfusion was 86% (vs 74% and 74% for the <8 hour and >8 hour CIT groups). The mean viable yield (total yield x viability) was 2937 IEQ/g for machine perfusion, compared with 3799 IEQ/g and 1937 IEQ/g from pancreata with <8 hours and >8 hours CIT, respectively. The insulin secretion index of islets after machine perfusion was 6.4, compared with indices of 1.9 and 1.8 for the <8 hour and >8 hour CIT groups. This preliminary data indicates that low-flow machine pulsatile perfusion of pancreata with prolonged cold ischemia time can result in excellent yield, viability, and function.