Characterization of Transplantable Insulinoma Cells.

This chapter describes the propagation and characterization of transplantable insulinoma cells as model of insulin-producing pancreatic islet cells in the rat. Here, the cells are propagated by transplantation into rats followed by harvesting after growth for approximately 1 month. The cells are then purified by Percoll density gradient centrifugation and characterized by pulse-chase radiolabelling and immunoprecipitation of the insulin-related peptides. The results show that the transplantable insulinoma cells produce insulin in a manner similar to that found in normal pancreatic islets.