Li Na, Sun Guangwei, Wang Shujun, Wang Yu, Xiu Zhilong, Sun Dongsheng, Guo Xin, Zhang Ying, Ma Xiaojun
Laboratory of Biomedical Material Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, People's Republic of China.
School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, People's Republic of China.
Biotechnol Appl Biochem. 2017 May;64(3):400-405. doi: 10.1002/bab.1489. Epub 2017 Apr 26.
After islet isolation, diffusion has become the main mechanism to transport oxygen and nutrients into the core of islets. However, diffusion has limitations, by which nutrients cannot effectively reach the core of large islets and can eventually cause core cell death and islet loss. This problem can be resolved by dispersing islets into single islet cells, but single islet cells do not exhibit insulin release function in in vitro culture. In this study, we intended to establish a new islet engineering approach by forming islet cell clusters to improve islet survival and function. Therefore, alginate gels were used to encapsulate islet cells to form artificial islets after dispersion of islets into single cells. The shape of the islet cell clusters was similar to native islets, and the size of the islet cell clusters was limited to a maximum diameter of 100 μm. By limiting the diameter of this engineered islet cell cluster, cell viability was nearly 100%, a significant improvement over natural islets. Importantly, islet cell clusters express the genes of islets, including Isl-1, Gcg, and insulin-1, and insulin secretion ability was maintained in vitro.
胰岛分离后，扩散已成为将氧气和营养物质输送到胰岛核心的主要机制。然而，扩散存在局限性，营养物质无法有效到达大胰岛的核心，最终可能导致核心细胞死亡和胰岛丧失。将胰岛分散成单个胰岛细胞可以解决这个问题，但单个胰岛细胞在体外培养中不表现出胰岛素释放功能。在本研究中，我们旨在通过形成胰岛细胞簇来建立一种新的胰岛工程方法，以提高胰岛的存活率和功能。因此，在将胰岛分散成单个细胞后，使用海藻酸盐凝胶包裹胰岛细胞以形成人工胰岛。胰岛细胞簇的形状与天然胰岛相似，胰岛细胞簇的大小限制在最大直径100μm。通过限制这种工程化胰岛细胞簇的直径，细胞活力接近100%，比天然胰岛有显著改善。重要的是，胰岛细胞簇表达胰岛的基因，包括Isl-1、Gcg和胰岛素-1，并且在体外保持胰岛素分泌能力。
