Introduction: The current methods for evaluating islet potency are not useful in clinical transplantation. Therefore, we need reliable, rapid methods enabling accurate prediction of islet quality.
Materials and methods: We evaluated respiratory activity using scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), glucose-stimulated respiratory activity, glucose-stimulated insulin release, ADP/ATP assays, insulin/DNA levels, and Trypan blue exclusion tests as predictive methods for the ability of isolated rat islets to cure syngeneic diabetic rats.
Results: Although glucose-stimulated respiratory activity, basal respiratory activity, ADP/ATP ratio, and glucose-stimulated insulin release were significantly correlated with the outcome of transplantation into diabetic rats, there was no correlation between outcomes, insulin/DNA ratios, and Trypan blue exclusion tests. The glucose-stimulated respiratory activity in islet preparations that could cure diabetic rats was significantly greater than those unable to cure diabetes. Rat islets with >1.5-fold glucose-stimulated respiratory activity consistently cured diabetic rats, whereas those with a value <1.5 hardly cured any rats.
Conclusion: Measurement of the glucose-stimulated respiratory activity using SECM technique is a novel method that may be useful as a rapid, potent predictor of the outcome of clinical islet transplantation.