Abstract
The hybrid artificial pancreas consisting of hollow fibers surrounded by allogeneic canine pancreatic fragments or xenogeneic hamster isolated islets was attached to the vascular system of totally pancreatectomized diabetic dogs.
The hollow fibers (Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol) used in this device had an internal diameter of 210μm, wall thickness of 32μm and a molecular weight cut-off of 70000 daltons. One of four dogs using fragments of a canine pancreas, and four of six dogs using 10000 isolated hamster islets achieved normoglycemia between 3 and 8 hours after attachment of the device. And then normoglycemia and normal plasma insulin levels were maintained for about 20 hours until the device was detached. Furthermore intravenous glucose tolerance tests showed a near normal plasma glucose and insulin response. While, in two of six dogs using 10000 hamster islets, plasma glucose levels gradually decreased until 3 hours after attachment of the device and maintained levels of 200 to 250mg/dl.
These results indicated that (1) the hybrid artificial pancreas was able to reverse diabetes in totally pancreatectomized dogs, (2) the device using isolated islets was more effective than using pancreatic fragments, and (3) at least 10000 hamster islets were necessary to restore normoglycemia in diabetic dogs.
