Effects of dissociation and culture on the maintenance of insulin, glucagon and somatostatin release by neonatal rat islets of Langerhans.

The ability of the principal islet cell types to maintain their differentiated function in vitro was assessed in a tissue culture system using neonatal rat pancreata. The effects of tissue dissociation and culture on the yield of islet tissue was measured at various times during the preparation and maintenance of cultures for 8 days. As estimated by the radioimmunoassay of insulin, glucagon and somatostatin in tissue extracts, the amount of islet tissue available for culture was reduced 50-70% following dissociation; an additional loss occurred after the first day in vitro. Only the insulin content of the tissue increased during culture. The hormone content of the media indicated that B-, A- and D-cell function was maintained throughout the culture period. The concentrations of insulin and glucagon in the medium approximately doubled and somatostatin increased 3-fold. This system has been shown to be a useful tool for the simultaneous study of the three major islet cell types and their secretory products.