Transplantation of human fetal pancreas: experience in thymusaplastic mice and rats and in a diabetic patient.

The aim of the present study was to investigate if thymusaplastic nude mice and rats are favorable as recipients for transplantation of human fetal pancreas. Twenty human fetal pancreases were transplanted subcutaneously to 20 nude mice, and six human fetal pancreases were transplanted to six rats. The xenografts showed histotypical development of islets of Langerhans. Insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide immunoreactivities were also seen in very early stages of the transplant development within the monolayered ducts. With the described "epigastric pouch technique" in rats, we co-ld demonstrate a new in vivo method for selective stimulations and simultaneous blood sampling from tissue-isolated xenografts. Transplantation of human fetal pancreas to the brachioradial muscle of an insulin-dependent patient in combination with a kidney transplant revealed that rejection crises of the kidney led to necrosis of the pancreas transplant, whereas rejection of the kidney was overcome by steroid pulse therapy.