title: Use of a diffusion model for assessing the performance of poly(vinyl alcohol) bioartificial pancreases.
abstract: Islets of Langerhans surrounded by a semipermeable membrane to prevent an immune response by the host immunosystem is a potential way of treating type I diabetes mellitus. In this study, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) tubular membranes with added polyethylene glycol to create pores in the skin layer were prepared to improve their diffusion property. In a static incubation study, islets cultured in the PVA tubular membranes still demonstrated their function of secreting insulin after 30 days. When the tubular PVA bioartificial pancreas was perifused in a small chamber with RPMI-1640 medium containing glucose at concentrations of 5.6-16.6 mmol/L, insulin release began to increase without delay. Therefore, such a membrane is an alternative potential material for a bioartificial pancreas. In addition, a mathematical mass transfer model of insulin release was developed and compared with the perifusion data. It was shown that satisfactory kinetics could be achieved with a PVA membrane. However, the model showed that the insulin output of islets cultured in the PVA tubular membrane must be increased to improve the performance significantly. These findings suggest that a bioartificial pancreas using a PVA membrane is a promising material, but the technique for seeding islets in the chamber requires further modification.
authors.affiliation: Center for Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, ROC.
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: W Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: L W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004058:Diffusion; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism; D000078790:Insulin Secretion; D008297:Male; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008954:Models, Biological; D019397:Pancreas, Artificial; D010477:Perfusion; D011142:Polyvinyl Alcohol; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011142:Polyvinyl Alcohol