The effect of human amniotic fluid in supporting long-term survival of pancreatic islets in tissue culture.

Pancreatic islets obtained from newborn Lewis rats were kept free-floating in TCM 199 either in the presence of 50% human amniotic fluid (HAF), 50% Hank's balanced salt solution (HBSS) or 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) for up to 14 days. The culture, in the presence of HAF, resulted in a good islet viability as demonstrated by islet number, islet insulin content and insulin release into the medium. Contradictory results were obtained when HBSS was used as the medium supplement. Moreover, the islets cultured in HAF-supplemented medium are characterized by a marked replicatory activity as reflected by the incorporation of labeled thymidine into islet DNA and gradual increase in DNA content with the progression of culture time. Even if compared to DNA synthesis of islets cultured under so called standard culture conditions as e.g. supplementation of 10% FCS to the medium, 50% HAF but not yet 10% HAF was found to stimulate the islet replication twofold already after 4 days of culture. It was also demonstrated that FCS has no additional effect on HAF-stimulated DNA synthesis. These findings support the view that HAF-enriched culture medium may have a use in supporting the long-term survival of well preserved endocrine pancreatic tissue.