Effect of warm ischemia on segmental pancreas transplantation in the rat

This study was performed to determine the effect of warm ischemia on post-transplantation endocrine function of rat segmental pancreas transplants. Diabetic (streptozotocin) rats were recipients of syngeneic vascularized grafts in all experiments. Thirty-, 60-, and 90-min periods of absolute ischemia at 37 C in addition to approximately 30 min of anastomosis time did not impair control of glucose metabolism as manifested by daily serum glucose values or response to intravenous glucose challenge when compared with control rats transplanted with freshly harvested pancreata. However, when the ischemic period was lengthened to 120 min, only one of five recipients had normal glucose values post-transplant. Islet morphology in the 30-, 60-, and 90-min ischemia groups was not different from controls. On the other hand, after 120 min of ischemia, islets were decreased in number, appeared smaller in size, and had undergone degeneration. For comparison, renal isografts using kidneys with 90 min of warm ischemia failed. These data suggest that in this model, islets in segmental pancreas transplants are more tolerant of warm ischemia than kidneys.