Abstract
Hamster islets which were microencapsulated in agarose hydrogel were xenogeneically transplanted into diabetic mice. The effect of agarose concentrations on xenograft survivals was studied in this research. The diabetic mice were sensitized by intraperitoneal injection of nonencapsulated hamster islets. Agarose-microencapsulated hamster islets which were precultured in vitro for more than 20 days were transplanted on day 14 after sensitization. The high level of anti-hamster antibody was still detected in plasma of recipients more than 50 days after transplantation of microencapsulated islets. The graft functioning Periods of microencapsulated islets markedly prolonged with an increase of concentration of agarose. Islets in microcapsules made from 7.5% high molecular weight agarose especially maintained the normoglycemia for more than 100 days in four of six animals. In addition, the mobility of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) was estimated in agarose gels of various concentrations by an electrophoresis assay. The graft functioning Periods of microencapsulated islets was revealed to be inversely correlated with the diffusion coefficient of IgG.
