Implantable artificial endocrine pancreas unit used to restore normoglycaemia in the diabetic rat

Abstract

PARENTERAL insulin therapy has long been the primary form of treatment for patients with diabetes, but it does not prevent the chronic complications of diabetes, which involve retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy and vascular disease and cause the most morbidity and mortality of diabetic patients. One of the most promising alternative approaches involves transplantation of insulin-producing tissue. In animal models, sustained correction of diabetes has been accomplished by the transplantation of isolated pancreatic islets from donors syngeneic with the recipients^1,2. We report here experiments with an implant in which islet cells are placed outside a synthetic capillary (hollow fibre) through which smaller molecules, such as insulin, can diffuse freely. Using this device we have normalised the high glucose level of diabetic rats.