Syngeneic transplantation of fetal rat pancreas. I. Effect of insulin treatment of the reversal of alloxan diabetes.

Sixty-nine alloxan-diabetic male Fischer rats received syngeneic transplants of eight 18-days-postcoitum fetal pancreases at the renal subcapsular site. One half of the recipients were given 2 to 4 U. protamine-zinc insulin for seven days immediately after transplantation. This insulin-treatment regimen effectively normalized blood glucose rapidly. Forty-seven transplant recipients survived, and diabetes was reversed in all. Insulin treatment had no effect on recovery time or glucose tolerance. Those animals requiring longer periods to reach normoglycemia had impaired glucose tolerance. Some insulin-treated recipients returned to normoglycemia rapidly while others required an extended period. Those animals that showed rapid reversal exhibited elevated concentrations of plasma insulin both in the fasting state and during glucose tolerance tests. No pretransplant parameters could be identified as predictors of rapid reversal.