title: Engineering islet for improved performance by optimized reaggregation in alginate gel beads.
abstract: After islet isolation, diffusion has become the main mechanism to transport oxygen and nutrients into the core of islets. However, diffusion has limitations, by which nutrients cannot effectively reach the core of large islets and can eventually cause core cell death and islet loss. This problem can be resolved by dispersing islets into single islet cells, but single islet cells do not exhibit insulin release function in in vitro culture. In this study, we intended to establish a new islet engineering approach by forming islet cell clusters to improve islet survival and function. Therefore, alginate gels were used to encapsulate islet cells to form artificial islets after dispersion of islets into single cells. The shape of the islet cell clusters was similar to native islets, and the size of the islet cell clusters was limited to a maximum diameter of 100 μm. By limiting the diameter of this engineered islet cell cluster, cell viability was nearly 100%, a significant improvement over natural islets. Importantly, islet cell clusters express the genes of islets, including Isl-1, Gcg, and insulin-1, and insulin secretion ability was maintained in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Material Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, People's Republic of China.|School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Material Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guangwei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shujun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Material Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhilong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xiu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Material Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, People's Republic of China.|School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dongsheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Material Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Material Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biomedical Material Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D001187:Artificial Organs; D005782:Gels; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism*; D000078790:Insulin Secretion; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D005782:Gels; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D007328:Insulin; D020723:Glucuronic Acid
keywords: encapsulation; engineering islets; islet cell clusters; islets isolation; reaggregation