Improved allograft survival using highly enriched populations of rat islets.

A method is described for the purification of islets before the cells are placed in tissue culture, thus permitting the transplantation of islets cultured for three days against major histocompatibility barriers without adjuvant immunosuppression. Mixed lymphocyte culture reactions were carried out with three rat strain combinations and the in vitro responses were correlated with the in vivo survival of islet allografts. These results showed that islet allograft acceptance is independent of the degree of histoincompatibility between different rat strains.