The Effects of Cord Blood Serum on Survival of Rat Pancreatic Islets during In vitro Culturing

Background: Transplantation of islets of Langerhans can improve glycometabolic control in type 1 diabetic patients; however, recipients usually require islets from 1-3 donor pancreas. Current isolation techniques generally recover <50% of the islets from a given pancreas. This study aimed to determine the effect of cord blood serum (CBS) on isolated pancreatic islet cells in vitro. Methods: Rat pancreatic islets were isolated via collagenase digestion, and then cultured with and without the presence of 50 μl, 100 μl, and 150 μl of CBS. Next, islet cell viability was determined using a fluorescein diacetate and propidium iodide mixture via fluorescence microscopy. Additionally, islet function was evaluated based on insulin secretion. Results: Treatment of primary cultures of rat pancreatic islets with CBS resulted in augmented β-cell viability. It was observed that the viability rate increased as the concentration of CBS increased and that viability was higher in the 150 μl of CBS group than in the control group. CBS was observed to preserve β-cell glucose responsiveness and insulin secretion under basal (3.3 mmoll-1) and stimulated (16.7 mmoll-1) glucose conditions. Moreover, a significant increase in insulin secretion was observed following treatment with 50 μl of CBS. Conclusions: The present findings show that cord blood serum treatment of freshly isolated rat islets had a positive effect on islet survival by increasing their viability. We think these findings suggest that CBS might be a suitable factor for optimizing and stimulating recovery, and subsequent function of islets during in vitro culturing, indicating that CBS might play an important role in the biophysiological function of pancreatic islets.