CULTURE OF INSULINOMA CELLS ON PANCREAS SECTIONS

摘要

Cell therapy using pancreatic islets is a promising lifelong treatment for type 1 diabetes mellitus. However, before cell therapy can be extensively used, there are some problems that need overcome. Of these, we focused on the need for improved cell function during in vitro culture. The sources of cells for cell therapy for diabetes are classified into two categories; primary cells isolated from a donor pancreas and established cell lines. The function of isolated primary cells decreases rapidly during in vitro culture and the function of established cell lines is too low for transplantation. To maintain and/or improve cell function during in vitro culture we designed TOSHI-substrata (substrata made of tissue / organ sections for histopathology), and investigated its effect on pancreatic cell lines derived from insulinomas. Before investigation, we estimated the influence of optimum cutting temperature (OCT) compound, which is used in preparation of the TOSHI-substrata, to confirm whether or not itsignificantly affects cell culture. We then cultured the cells on the TOSHI-substrata and found that they spontaneously aggregated; proliferation of the cells on the TOSHI-substrata was also slightly inferior to that on control glass slides, suggestingthat culturing on pancreas sections might allow redifferentiation of the cell line or recovery of islet function.