Experimental studies on cadaver pancreas preserved by perfusion

pancreatic transplantation is the most effective therapy of advanced diabetes mellitus. However, the problem is whether the cadaver pancreas can be used as a donor, because the living pancreas cannot be used as a donor from an anatomical standpoint. In case of the cadaver pancreas another problem is coming up that the pancreas proceeds to rapid autolysis. So, brain death is recommended as the most available condition for this transplantation. In this study we investigated the viability of the cadaver pancreas from decapitated rats preserved by the cold perfusion method. The results obtained were as follows: 1) The perfusing time affected the ratio of degenerative islets/normal islets. A large number of degenerative islets appeared with long perfusion time. 2) The cold (4 degrees C) perfusion method could preserve cadaver pancreas for 5 hours. 3) Insulin-secretion of cadaver pancreatic islets preserved for 5 hours under cold perfusion was 60% or more of that of normal pancreatic islets. 4) Three hundred islets from cadaver pancreas preserved for 5 hours under cold perfusion were transplanted into the portal vein of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Four of these 11 rats recovered from diabetic state and maintained the non-diabetic state for 20 weeks after transplantation.