Bioartificial pancreas - no more needles!

[Evermont]

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/_img/86/i18/8618sci4_live-1.jpg (http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/86/8618sci4.html)

Clicky picture for article, and more here... (link (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505093226.htm))

[volleyball]

That's an interesting idea. I do wonder how pigs islets would know how much to exactly produce in humans. And what is their lifespan? Would it fail slowly so you would have time to get it replaced. And where would you stick a 2 3/4" barrel?

[BlueSky]

Presumably the pig beta cells will produce insulin when blood glucose is higher than normal pig blood glucose, whatever that is. The concept has been tested quite successfully with alginate encapsulated pig beta cells. But participants soon needed to supplement the insulin with injections. A trial subject in Auckland still had some beta cell function left after 9 years.

The encapsulation option seems more viable as the islets can be injected. Implanting this device would require a surgical procedure. By far the biggest hurdle will be negotiating the xenotransplantation issue and dealing with all the emotion it arouses. :(

[Evermont]

That's an interesting idea. I do wonder how pigs islets would know how much to exactly produce in humans. And what is their lifespan? Would it fail slowly so you would have time to get it replaced. And where would you stick a 2 3/4" barrel?

I would guess that any kind of islet cells wouldn't "know" anything, but the WE know how many pig islet cells it takes to do the job. I seems logical that the cells would not all fail at the same time but I have no info on that either. As for where to "stick it" well, I have some funny responses but I'll spare you those.

...By far the biggest hurdle will be negotiating the xenotransplantation issue and dealing with all the emotion it arouses. :(

I wonder how far off the advance to human islets in a tube would be.

[fgummett]

I wonder how far off the advance to human islets in a tube would be.I have no doubt that this exact same technology would work just as well if not better, with Human islet cells... the difficulty is in getting hold of enough. I understand that the current transplant protocols use 2 human pancreas each time... but the trouble is getting enough donors. Pigs would provide an ideal substitute without any such concerns. From what I also understand pigs are a pretty good human analog in terms of size, weight and layout of organs.
As for regulating the insulin, wouldn't they simply fit into the normal endocrine feedback loop that someone without diabetes has? In other words, the islet cells may produce the insulin but I assume there are other mechanisms which tell them when and how much...

[volleyball]

. As for where to "stick it" well, I have some funny responses but I'll spare you those.


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Are you on insulin or just glad to see me?

There, I did it.

[fgummett]

Also worth remembering that before they started growing human analog insulins, most insulin for diabetes treatment came from pigs and cows (porcine and bovine) :nurse:

[Tattoo azz]

Looks intersting but once again it'll be a looooooooooooooong time before we get it if ever so i'm not holding my breath.