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Updated: Aug 17, 2026
Intraportal Transplantation of Pancreatic Islets in Mouse Model
Published on: May 5, 2018
Hepatic regeneration promotes engraftment of intraportally transplanted islet cells
Takeshi Sudo1, Eiso Hiyama, Yoshiaki Murakami
1Department of Surgery, Division of Clinical Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Natural Science Center for Basic Research and Development, Hiroshima University, Kasumi, Hiroshima, Japan. tsudo@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Background:
With the current donor shortage, future success with islet transplantation is incumbent upon the ability to use single-donor islets. Manipulating the recipient graft environment may allow the use of fewer islets to achieve insulin independence.
Methods:
Isolated pancreatic islets from a single donor were intraportally transplanted to streptozotocin-diabetic rats immediately after 70% partial hepatectomy (HxPIT1, n = 12). Plasma glucose concentrations were monitored for 30 days; intravenous glucose tolerance tests and serum insulin concentrations were obtained at the second and fourth weeks; morphologic studies were performed on insulin-immunostained sections of the liver.
Results:
from HxPIT1 rats were compared to those from rats transplanted with single-donor islet grafts (PIT1, n = 10) and double-donor islet grafts (PIT2, n = 7). Results Hyperglycemia was ameliorated in HxPIT1 and PIT2 rats after transplantation but not in PIT1 rats. Glucose tolerance and insulin secretion in the HxPIT1 group were superior to the PIT1 group and equivalent to those in the PIT2 group. Morphologically, the sizes of the grafted islets and individual beta cells from HxPIT1 rats were larger than those from PIT1 rats.
Conclusions:
In streptozotocin-diabetic rats, islet transplantation performed in regenerating liver results in improved insulin secretion and serum glucose control, even in the face of a limited number of islets.
