Isolation of islands of Langerhans from the human adult pancreas

Nine of 38 islet isolation experiments, using the duct collagenase technique, were selected for quality checks on isolated islet tissue. Pancreas was harvested, following aortic multi-organ perfusion. The total number of islets isolated amounted to 112,461 +/- 11,828 in 13.7 ml of suspension on average. In vitro secretion of beta cells was increased by a factor of 3.8 in response to glucose stimulation. Isolated islets in morphologically intact condition were detected by histological investigations. A new viability test (MTT, Sigma) for isolated pancreas islets worked well, in that it provided very soon information on islet survival in the wake of collagenase preparation. These results produced evidence to an improvement of technical conditions for clinical use of adult islet transplantation in cases of type I diabetes.