Small Islets Transplantation Superiority to Large Ones: Implications from Islet Microcirculation and Revascularization
Figure 3
Small islets embrace more insulin-producing β-cells and function more vigorously. (a) Insulin immunostaining (brown) of islets in situ in the sectioned pancreas. Small islets showed an apparent more distinct and dense insulin staining compared with the large ones. (b) Immunoblotting of insulin in isolated islets of indicated size. (c) Quantification of insulin immunoblotting above. Small islets have more insulin reservation than large ones normalized to total protein content (). (d) In vitro glucose stimulated insulin secretion assay of isolated islets. Small islets represent more potent insulin-secretion ability both in basal state (2.8 mM glucose) and after 16.7 mM glucose challenge ( and , resp.).
