Increased Yield and Improved Transplantation Outcome of Mouse Islets with Bovine Serum Albumin. (9th December 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bertera, Suzanne; Balamurugan, A. N.; Bottino, Rita; He, Jing; Trucco, Massimo
• Other Names: Pileggi Antonello Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of transplantation. Volume 2012(2012)
• Publication Date: 2012-12-09
• Subjects: Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc -- Periodicals; 617.95405
• DOI: 10.1155/2012/856386
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2090-0007

Abstract

Abstract : Isolation and transplantation of rodent islets are frequently used as a tool for predicting the behavior of new protocols for islet allotransplants in type 1 diabetes patients. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is recognized as a protease inhibitor possibly protecting function and viability in islets. For this study, the addition of 0.2% BSA to the isolation protocol resulted in a 30% increase in islet yields while other parameters, such as viability and function, retained high islet quality. In vivo, a minimal mass of 70 BSA treated islets showed their ability to control glycemia levels in diabetic mice by bringing the average blood glucose to 153 ± 13.2 mg/dL compared to 288 ± 22.6 mg/dL without BSA. Our results show that the simple addition of BSA to the isolation protocol constitutes a reliable and reproducible method for increasing islet yield. Also adding BSA to the transplantation medium improves islet function in vivo . The method outlined here can reduce the overall number of animals needed per experiment and also reduce the time and resources needed for islet preparation.