title: Long-term cultured neonatal porcine islet cell monolayers: a potential tissue source for transplant in diabetes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The restricted availability of cadaveric human donor pancreases mandates validation of possibly inexhaustible, alternative sources of insulin secretory cells in order to expand islet transplant for the therapy of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (T1DM).
  
  
  METHODS
  Neonatal pig pancreatic islets (NPI), isolated and purified by our method, were specially cultured until confluent cell monolayers were obtained. Expression of several beta-cell phenotype transcriptional factors, under glucose and other stimuli, were examined throughout 90 days of culture.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High glucose concentration and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) were associated with maintenance either of insulin secretory patterns from the incubated cell monolayers, or expression of transcriptional markers associated with beta-cell like phenotypes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Morphological and molecular expression of beta-cell markers and products from NPI cell monolayers seem to identify a novel and potentially powerful source of insulin producing cells that might fulfill transplant needs for insulin substitution therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine (Di.M.I.), University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mancuso
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Basta
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Calvitti
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Luca
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guido
authors.forename: Leda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Racanicchi
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Montanucci
authors.forename: Ennio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Becchetti
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Calafiore
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D015415:Biomarkers; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured / Q000637:transplantation*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000601:surgery; D007328:Insulin / Q000096:biosynthesis; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation; D034421:Sus scrofa
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007328:Insulin