Intramuscular islet transplantation promotes restored islet vascularity

In a recent publication, we reported that islets transplanted to mouse striated muscle became revascularized with intra-islet vessel densities comparable to native islets. Revascularization of islet grafts was completely dependent on recruited Gr-1+ leukocytes. Diabetic mice cured by transplantation of 300 islets into muscle handled glucose tolerance tests as healthy controls, whereas mice cured by intraportal islet transplantation into the liver had increased blood glucose values during the load. The translational impact of these observations were confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging of autotransplanted islets in the forearm muscle of pancreactomized patients, and higher blood perfusion of the grafts compared to adjacent muscle were found. In summary, the striated muscle is a promising site for islet transplantation which promotes full revascularization of implanted grafts. The proangiogenic role of recruited leukocytes during engraftment needs to be further characterized, and considered for immune suppression treatments.