Remission of Digestive Insufficiency by Islet Transplantation to the Pancreas

Pancreatic digestive insufficiency is a common problem in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and remains a serious consequence of diabetes in developing countries. The problem is not corrected by supportive therapies including exogenous insulin injections. It is our hypothesis that digestive insufficiency may be corrected or diminished by the transplantation of islets to the pancreas, thereby supplying islet hormones directly to acinar tissue analogous to the normal pancreas. Diabetic rats received 1000 syngeneic islets and dogs received 7600 autologous islets per kilogram as a transplant to the pancreas. Blood glucose and amylase concentrations were normalized in islet recipients in contrast with controls receiving no islets or islets transplanted to the renal capsule. These results suggest that diabetic digestive insufficiency may be corrected by intrapancreatic islet transplantation.