Islet TransplantationHow Are Islets Separated?

The process of transplanting islets begins with a donor organ.

Currently, human islets for transplantation are obtained from the pancreas of a deceased donor. When an organ is identified and approved for transplantation, it is brought to the human cell processing lab.

The first challenge is to separate and isolate the insulin-producing cell clusters from the rest of the organ. In this process, the donor pancreas is first filled with a chemical enzyme solution that starts to break down the organ’s connective tissue.  

The pancreas is then placed in the Ricordi Chamber, which, through a series of mechanical and chemical steps, continues to break down the organ and “liberates” the islets from the non-islet tissue.  

Once this process is completed, the digested pancreas is loaded into a centrifuge which separates the islets from the remaining mixture.

>> Separation / Isolation Procedure

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© 2008 Diabetes Research Institute