Background: We have demonstrated a culture bag system that is useful for pancreatic islet transplantation. To improve and simplify islet transplantation procedures from culture to transplantation, we developed a novel device specific for both islet culture and transplantation (TUBERO Device [TD]) using an oxygen-permeable material.
Materials and methods: Porcine islets with 30 minutes warm ischemia time were cultured for 24 hours at 37 degrees C in 5% CO2 and humidified air under three different procedures: (1) ordinary culture flask, (2) culture bag suitable for platelets, and (3) TD. Loss of islets during culture, glucose-stimulated insulin release as an islet functional test, and ADP/ATP ratio as an index of islet viability tests were evaluated to compare the devices. TD was further applied in two clinical islet transplantations using non-heart-beating donors in Japan.
Results: The loss of islets during culture was considerably lower in the TD group. The stimulation index upon glucose challenge tests was significantly higher in the TD group than the others. The ADP/ATP ratio in TD group was significantly lower than that in the ordinary flask group, suggesting that the apoptotic islets were relatively lower among TD. Most importantly, TD was successfully applied both in the clinical islet cultures and in transplantation, resulting in excellent graft function.
Conclusions: We propose that the TD, a novel product, not only simplifies islet transplantation procedures, but also maintain the quality of isolated islets.