Small invasive transplantation of islets and long maintenance of the islet graft without immunosuppression has been studied for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Clinically, subcutaneous pockets surrounding vascular-rich tissue are prepared for islet transplantation using a device made of the materials. Here, gelatin sheets were implanted into two dorsal subcutaneous sites in diabetic ACI rats, and a mixture of bFGF and sodium hyaluronate solution was injected around the gelatin sheets. A total of 1500 islets isolated from F344 rats were transplanted into each of the pockets 7 days after injection of the bFGF mixture. Nine of 10 diabetic ACI rats with allogeneic islet graft demonstrated long-term normoglycemia without administration of immunosuppressant. Gelatin sheets almost disappeared 67 days after implantation. Thus, subcutaneous immune-tolerant sites can be prepared using gelatin sheets and a sodium hyaluronate-bFGF mixture. Allogeneic islets transplanted into the sites can survive and control blood glucose levels for a long period, even without immunosuppression. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 107B: 1107-1112, 2019.
Keywords: gelatin; islet transplantation; sodium hyaluronate; subcutaneous; vascularization.
© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.