Supravital dithizone staining in the isolation of human and rat pancreatic islets

TY - JOUR

T1 - Supravital dithizone staining in the isolation of human and rat pancreatic islets

AU - Hansen, W A

AU - Christie, M R

AU - Kahn, R

AU - Norgaard, A

AU - Abel, I

AU - Petersen, A M

AU - Jorgensen, D W

AU - Baekkeskov, S

AU - Nielsen, Jens Høiriis

AU - Lernmark, A

PY - 1989/2

Y1 - 1989/2

N2 - Dithizone, a zinc chelating agent, is known to selectively stain the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. In the present study, we have used this stain to aid the identification of islets in material obtained by collagenase digestion of human pancreas. Islets were shown to rapidly and reversibly stain red on incubation with dithizone solution. Tissue selected on the basis of dithizone staining was shown to contain insulin-positive cells and to accumulate insulin in the medium during a subsequent period in tissue culture. Experiments with rat islets indicated that the dithizone treatment had no effect on insulin release in tissue culture, on acute responses to stimulatory glucose concentrations or on the insulin content of cells. These results suggest that dithizone staining can assist in the identification of islets from the human pancreas and may prove to be a useful tool in developing techniques for the large scale isolation of functionally intact human islets.

AB - Dithizone, a zinc chelating agent, is known to selectively stain the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. In the present study, we have used this stain to aid the identification of islets in material obtained by collagenase digestion of human pancreas. Islets were shown to rapidly and reversibly stain red on incubation with dithizone solution. Tissue selected on the basis of dithizone staining was shown to contain insulin-positive cells and to accumulate insulin in the medium during a subsequent period in tissue culture. Experiments with rat islets indicated that the dithizone treatment had no effect on insulin release in tissue culture, on acute responses to stimulatory glucose concentrations or on the insulin content of cells. These results suggest that dithizone staining can assist in the identification of islets from the human pancreas and may prove to be a useful tool in developing techniques for the large scale isolation of functionally intact human islets.

KW - Animals

KW - Azo Compounds

KW - Cells, Cultured

KW - Dithizone

KW - Humans

KW - Insulin

KW - Islets of Langerhans

KW - Microbial Collagenase

KW - Rats

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 2545405

SN - 0265-5985

VL - 10

SP - 53

EP - 57

JO - Diabetes Research: Clinical & Experimental

JF - Diabetes Research: Clinical & Experimental

IS - 2

ER -