title: A better yield of islet cell mass from living pancreatic donors compared with cadaveric donors.
abstract: Studies in rats have shown that brain death decreases beta-cell function and causes islet cell death during islet isolation and transplantation. Because a direct comparison of human islet cells between living and cadaveric donors has not been reported to date, we studied the effects of brain death on islet cell yield. A total of 36 pancreas specimens from 20 living donors and 16 cadaveric donors were used for analysis. Islets were isolated with a Ricordi chamber, and counted as equivalent islet numbers (EIN). Living donors were predominantly female, and cadaveric donors were mainly male. Although the cold ischemic time, pancreas distensibility and digestion time were not different, islet yield was observed to be higher in living donors compared with cadaveric donors (5800 +/- 3500 vs. 1900 +/- 2000 EIN/g pancreas). Islet isolation success rates (when defined as more than 2000 EIN/g) were 94.1% and 42.9%, respectively. Post-Ficoll islet recovery rates and purity were also better in living donors. However, islet viability and in vitro function of isolated islets showed no significant differences between the groups. These results suggested that brain death negatively affected the processes of islet isolation from the pancreas.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hye Seung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Seong-Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Sung-Joo
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kyu Taek
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jong Kyun
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kee-Taek
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Byung-Wan
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jae-Hwan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Jee
authors.forename: Seung-Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: You-Ran
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Moon-Kyu
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kwang-Won
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009926:Organ Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis