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Updated: Mar 30, 2026
Scaffold-supported Transplantation of Islets in the Epididymal Fat Pad of Diabetic Mice
Published on: July 23, 2017
Cell rearrangement in transplanted human islets
Vanessa Lavallard1, Mathieu Armanet2, Géraldine Parnaud2
1*Cell Isolation and Transplantation Center, Department of Surgery, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Cell Therapy Unit, Hôpital Saint Louis, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, and University Paris 7, Paris, France; and Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité Mixte de Recherche Scientifique 1138, Centre de Recherches des Cordeliers, Paris, France vanessa.lavallard@unige.ch.
The major feature of the human pancreatic islet architecture is the organization of endocrine cells into clusters comprising central β cells and peripheral α cells surrounded by vasculature. To have an insight into the mechanisms that govern this unique islet architecture, islet cells were isolated, and reaggregation of α and β cells into islet-like structures (pseudoislets) after culture or transplantation into mice was studied by immunohistology. The pseudoislets formed in culture displayed an unusual cell arrangement, contrasting with the transplanted pseudoislets, which exhibited a cell arrangement similar to that observed in native pancreatic islet subunits. The pattern of revascularization and the distribution of extracellular matrix around transplanted pseudoislets were alike to those observed in native pancreatic islets. This organization of transplanted pseudoislets occurred also when revascularization was abolished by treating mice with an anti-VEGF antibody, but not when contact with extracellular matrix was prevented by encapsulation of pseudoislets within alginate hydrogel. These results indicate that the maintenance of islet cell arrangement is dependent on in vivo features such as extracellular matrix but independent of vascularization.
The major feature of the human pancreatic islet architecture is the organization of endocrine cells into clusters comprising central β cells and peripheral α cells surrounded by vasculature. To have an insight into the mechanisms that govern this unique islet architecture, islet cells were isolated, and reaggregation of α and β cells into islet-like structures (pseudoislets) after culture or transplantation into mice was studied by immunohistology. The pseudoislets formed in culture displayed an unusual cell arrangement, contrasting with the transplanted pseudoislets, which exhibited a cell arrangement similar to that observed in native pancreatic islet subunits. The pattern of revascularization and the distribution of extracellular matrix around transplanted pseudoislets were alike to those observed in native pancreatic islets. This organization of transplanted pseudoislets occurred also when revascularization was abolished by treating mice with an anti-VEGF antibody, but not when contact with extracellular matrix was prevented by encapsulation of pseudoislets within alginate hydrogel. These results indicate that the maintenance of islet cell arrangement is dependent on in vivo features such as extracellular matrix but independent of vascularization.
