title: The effect of insulin treatment on function of intraportally grafted islets in streptozotocin-diabetic rats.
abstract: This study examines whether a 10-week period of daily insulin injections following intraportal islet transplantation improves the metabolic state in streptozotocin-diabetic recipients of a suboptimal number of beta cells. In recipients receiving 0.5 million beta cells, insulin treatment increased the number of animals with normal basal glycemia (from 2/6 to 7/8) and normal serum fructosamine (from 1/6 to 6/8). However, during the four weeks following a 10-week insulin regimen, this beneficial effect was lost and no differences were noticed in glucose tolerance curves and hepatic insulin reserves of insulin-treated and untreated recipients. In recipients receiving 1.1 million beta cells, administration of insulin did not influence the number of animals with normal basal glycemia (7/7 in both groups) or with normal serum fructosamine (5/7 versus 4 to 6/7) during the period of treatment or during the subsequent 4 weeks; prior insulin treatment did not improve glucose tolerance curves but reduced the hepatic insulin reserves by one-third. It is concluded that insulin injections can improve the metabolic state in recipients of an insufficient islet mass but do not enhance the metabolic capacity or insulin reserves of a hepatic islet implant. The reduced hepatic insulin content in one group of insulin-treated recipients raises the possibility that supplements of insulin injections reduce the size of grafted insulin reserves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Keymeulen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vetri
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gorus
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vanbrabandt
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Pipeleers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000097:blood / Q000601:surgery*; D019270:Fructosamine; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006595:Hexosamines / Q000097:blood; D007328:Insulin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D016042:Transplantation, Heterotopic / Q000502:physiology; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D001786:Blood Glucose; D006595:Hexosamines; D007328:Insulin; D014280:Triglycerides; D019270:Fructosamine