Abstract
We examined the potential of microcapsules made of 5% agarose gel for immunoisolation in islet xenografts. One thousand of microencapsulated hamster islets were implanted intra-peritoneally into each of streptozotocin induced diabetic mice. Six of eight transplants were acutely rejected within 16 days. Immunoisolation of 5% agarose microcapsule was not so effec-tive in xenograft. When the recipients were immunosuppressed by 15-deoxyspergualin(DSG)(2.5mg /kg/day), marked prolongations of normoglycemic periods were observed. We also found that a 40 days course of 5.0 mg/kg/day DSG therapy, in conjunction with the microencapsulation of islets produced 60% survivals of hamster islet xenograft even after the discontinuation of DSG treatment.
