Maturation of the response of human fetal pancreatic explants to glucose.

The release of insulin from the human pancreas in response to glucose is known to be either poor or absent in the fetus, whereas in the infant and adult, the response is much greater. The maturation of this response was examined systematically in this study using pancreases that were initially obtained at 14-20 weeks gestation and maintained either in culture alone or by passaging them in diabetic nude mice. Stimulation with glucose was carried out in vitro using tissue of ages ranging from 14 to 58 weeks. A response to glucose was initially seen at 25 weeks and this dramatically increased in the fetal tissue that had reached an age of 55 weeks or more. One of the nude mice used for passage developed normoglycaemia and when the pancreatic implant of age 52 weeks was removed, diabetes recurred. Our findings support the idea of the use of human fetal pancreatic tissue in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.