PROLONGED PRESERVATION OF HUMAN PANCREAS BEFORE ISLET ISOLATION WITH THE TWO-LAYER COLD STORAGE METHOD
Yasuki Tanioka, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Teruyuki Deai, Kazuhisa Suzuki, Ippei Matsumoto, Yasuhiro Iwanaga, Masaaki Mitsutsuji, Yonson Ku, Y Kuroda · Transplantation · 1999
409 Background. Successful pancreas preservation before islet isolation is one of the key factors to establish clinical islet transplant worldwide. Simple cold storage in UW, which is currently the gold standard in organ preservation, turned out to be not so effective in pancreas preservation before islet isolation. We have shown in a dog model the excellence of the two-layer cold storage method (TLM) in preserving pancreas before islet isolation (Surgery 1997; 122:435). In the present study, we sought to determine whether the method is also effective in preservation of human pancreas before islet isolation. Methods. We used human segmental pancreases (body and tail) resected for the treatment of gastric cancer through appropriate consent. They were flushed with UW via the splenic artery immediately after excision, transported to the islet isolation laboratory immersed in UW. They suffered additional cold storage with TLM for at least 20 hours. Finally, pancreases were digested by the methods described by Ricordi et, al. and islets were purified on Euro-Ficoll discontinuous gradients. IEQ (Islet Equivalents)/g pancreas post purification were evaluated. In a selected case (case 5), viability of islets were tested by static incubation test. Results.(Table)TableThe figure we obtained (3000 IEQ/g pancreas) is more than three times as much as that from other institution using UW alone (Transplantation 1995; 59: 689). The viability of islets in this series may be maintained as SI (stimulation index) in case 5 after static incubation was 1.5. Conclusions. The results clearly indicates that the two-layer cold storage method is also effective in preservation of human pancreas before islet isolation. Clinical trial with the method is warranted.