Isolation of islands of Langerhans from human and porcine pancreas for transplantation to humans

The enormous variability of donor factors and organ procurement related variables prevent a constant isolation success, thus reducing the potential number of clinical islet transplants. Since the availability of intact and viable pancreatic donor tissue intended for islet transplantation is limited, the porcine pancreas was selected as a potential source of xenogeneic islets for human recipients. The differences of islet histomorphology between porcine and human pancreas result in a higher intrinsic fragility of porcine islets during collagenase digestion. Nevertheless, if the isolation method is modified to inhibit factors potentially toxic to pig islets, reproducibility of isolation success is higher in the pig as in the human due to a lower variability in donor characteristics and the opportunity of preselection in regard to age and race. If xenograft rejection can be overcome and the risk of xenosis can be minimized, the logistic prerequisites for xenotransplantation of large amounts of viable pig islets into human recipients with insulin dependent diabetes are fulfilled.