Connexin-Based Therapeutics and Tissue Engineering Approaches to the Amelioration of Chronic Pancreatitis and Type I Diabetes: Construction and Characterization of a Novel Prevascularized Bioartificial Pancreas

Figure 4

Prevascularized bioartificial pancreases subjected to JM2 treatment retain robust insulin expression and maintain a vascular network. The constructs used in the GSIS assay were fixed, whole-mount-labeled, and imaged by confocal microscopy. The labels used were for actin (phalloidin, blue), islets (insulin, green), and endothelial cells (CD31, red). Note the persistence of a vascular network in the constructs subjected to GSIS assay (Vehicle, JM2, and FFA). Importantly, the level of insulin expressed is comparable in vehicle and JM2-treated constructs, while this appears to be decreased in FFA-treated SPECs. Images are maximum projections of z-stacks of 20x magnification fields. Scale bars represent 100 μm.