The efficient prevascularization induced by fibroblast growth factor 2 with a collagen-coated device improves the cell survival of a bioartificial pancreas.
OBJECTIVE
The subcutaneous transplantation of a bioartificial pancreas is a very attractive cure for diabetes mellitus. We recently developed a new immunoisolatory device that has the ability to induce neovascularization for subcutaneous transplantation. We applied the newly developed device to subcutaneous transplantation of a bioartificial pancreas.


METHODS
We investigated the prevascularization-inducing activity of the device in diabetic rats by histologic analysis and evaluated the permeability of the device to insulin and BSA. We also evaluated the survival of cells enclosed in a bioartificial pancreas, which was composed of the device, from the viewpoint of the effects of prevascularization by semiquantitative RT-PCR.


RESULTS
The devices induced prevascularization more efficiently than fibroblast growth factor 2 impregnated in gelatin microspheres alone did and had more useful permeability than a noncollagen-coated device. Significantly higher expression of insulin mRNA was detected in the RT-PCR amplicons from cells retrieved from the bioartificial pancreas transplanted at the prevascularization-induced site as compared with at a nonprevascularization-induced site.


CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrated that our newly developed device has a superior ability to induce prevascularization in diabetic rats, and the prevascularization improves the initial cell survival of the implanted cells following transplantation.
Sakurai
Tomonori
T
Department of Organ Reconstruction, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Satake
Akira
A
Sumi
Shoichiro
S
Inoue
Kazutomo
K
Nagata
Natsuki
N
Tabata
Yasuhiko
Y
Miyakoshi
Junji
J
D000818:Animals; D021522:Bioartificial Organs; D002460:Cell Line; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D003094:Collagen; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D016035:Pancreas Transplantation; D019397:Pancreas, Artificial; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew
D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; D003094:Collagen