[Organ cultures from isolated pancreatic islets of rats and their transplantation into streptozotocin-diabetic rats].

Unlabelled: Islets of Langerhans were isolated from the adult wistar rat by means of the collagenase method and cultivated in an incubator at a temperature of 37 degree Celsius and with a mixture of 95% air and 5% CO2. With that each two of the islets were put into every drill hole of multi-dish trays. 1 ml Eagle medium modified by Dulbecco with admixtures of 20% foetal calf serum, 100 microgram/ml Streptomycin and 100 u/ml Penicillin G was the nutrient medium. This medium was exchanged every third day and the released insulin quantity was measured by a radio immunologic test (Phadebas insulin test).

Results: 1. The insulin quantity in the nutrient medium runs to 1097 to 1434 microu/ml two islets if a change took place every third day during an 80 days duration of the culture. 2. The cultivated islets had a demonstrable reactivity of the insulin secretion to glucose and glucagon. 3. Diabetic rats with transplants of nearly 400 cultivated islets recover from diabetic state within one week after transplantation and keep healthy for 8 weeks.