Gastric fundus submucosa as a site for islets transplantation: An experimental study

Islets of Langerhans transplantation is a promising alternative for glycemic control in patients with type 1 diabetes. The graft site is a factor that has large impact on the functioning of this transplant, and the stomach appears to be a promising location. Our objective is to describe a new experimental model for the grafting of Islets of Langerhans in rat stomachs.

Islets of Langerhans were extracted from 45 isogenic male rats of the Lewis lineage and transplanted into 9 isogenic rats of the Wistar lineage; 5 in the gastric body submucosa, and 4 in the gastric fundus submucosa. Normoglycemia was defined as two successive measurements of <250 mg/dL. No immunosuppression was used. The two groups glycemia control improvement were compared with t-student test.

The results obtained following the transplantation of the islets in 9 rats showed between 995 and 2310 islets transplanted (mean of 1367). The rats from the gastric submucosa group had a better glycemic level improvement, with a confidence equal to 83.94%.

Islets graft into the gastric fundus submucosa is a viable model with potential for adequate glycemic control. This model gives potential for new perspectives and future studies in this area.