MONDAY, Dec. 3 (HealthDay News) -- The yield of pancreatic islets isolated from living donors is higher than cadaveric donors, even though they function at similar levels, according to study findings published in the November/December issue of Clinical Transplantation.
Hye Seung Jung, M.D., from Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, Korea, and colleagues examined the effect of brain death on the yield of pancreatic islet cells using 36 pancreas specimens from 20 living donors and 16 cadaveric donors.
The researchers found that even with similar cold ischemic times, pancreas distensibility and digestion times, islet yields were higher in living donors. The success rate of isolating islets, recovery rates, and purity were also higher in living donors. However, the viability and in vitro function of the islets were similar in living and cadaveric donors.
"These results suggested that brain death negatively affected the processes of islet isolation from the pancreas," Jung and colleagues conclude.
Abstract
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