Characterization of Integrin Expression in Islets Isolated from Hamster, Canine, Porcine, and Human PancreasRen Nian Wanga, Steve Paraskevasa, and Lawrence Rosenbergaa Department of Surgery, McGill University, and Montreal General Hospital Research Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Correspondence to: Lawrence Rosenberg, Dept. of Surgery, Montreal General Hospital Research Inst., 1650 Cedar Ave., Room C9-133, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A4, Canada.
The reasons for the failure of clinical islet transplantation remain obscure. Islet isolation, however, exposes the islet to variety of cellular stresses, including disruption of the cellmatrix relationship, an event associated with apoptosis. The cellmatrix relationship is characterized by an interaction between cell surface integrin receptors and matrix molecules of the surrounding basement membrane (BM). The purpose of this study was to characterize integrin expression and the distribution of the peri-insular BM in human, porcine, canine, and hamster pancreas, and after routine islet isolation. Whereas islets in the porcine pancreas do not have a demonstrable BM, islets in the human, canine, and hamster pancreas have an almost continuous BM with very little direct exocrine to endocrine cellcell contact. After islet isolation, the BM was destroyed, only to be reestablished during the period of culture. In the pancreas of all four species, integrin Key Words: integrin, basement membrane, islet isolation, islet cell culture, immunocytochemistry
Islet transplantation has been proposed as an alternative approach to vascularized pancreas transplantation because of the potentially more favorable risk:benefit ratio (
Factors that mediate cell survival include those found in the local microenvironment, such as extracellular matrix (ECM), and those associated with the cell itself, the integrin family of cell surface proteins (
ECM is present in two forms, interstitial matrix and basement membrane (BM). In the pancreas, BM contains laminin, fibronectin, and collagen Types IV and V (
Integrins, expressed on virtually every cell type, are a diverse class of In this study we characterized the presence and distribution of the islet BM and the expression of integrins in normal human, porcine, canine, and hamster pancreas. We then compared the findings to those obtained from purified islets after isolation.
Sources of Pancreatic Tissue and Isolated Islets
Chemicals and Antibodies
Islet Isolation and Culture
Collagenase P was used for the digestion of hamster pancreata. Purification was carried out by a two-step discontinuous bovine serum albumin (BSA) gradient (Sigma), as previously described ( After overnight incubation, islets were cultured in suspension in CMRL1066 medium supplemented with 10% FBS at 37C in a CO2 incubator (95% air/5% CO2). Porcine islets isolated at the Indianapolis facility were shipped the same day, by overnight courier, in serum-supplemented CMRL1066. Islets selected at random during the digestion period, before and after purification, and then at 2-day intervals for at least 10 days were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA) overnight at 4C.
Reticulin Staining
Immunocytochemistry A quantitative evaluation of the number of cells stained was performed. Three randomly selected sections of the first 10 islets from each species were used for counting, and at least 200 acinar cells, duct cells, or isolated islet cells were counted. Data are expressed as mean percentage ± SD.
Expression of Basement Membrane Components
The BM of isolated islets was lost immediately after enzymatic digestion (Figure 1B, Figure 1E, and Figure 1H). After 5 days of culture, the BM was gradually recovered (Figure 1C, Figure 1F, and Figure 1I). Unlike the in situ findings, isolated porcine islets developed a continuous BM within 5 days of culture (Figure 2C). Immunocytochemical localization of laminin and collagen IV demonstrated that they were components of the peri-insular BM membrane in the pancreas, although staining was of very low or only moderate intensity. Laminin and collagen IV were destroyed during the islet isolation process and were absent immediately after isolation. Immunocytochemical staining, however, returned by Day 5 in culture.
Integrin Expression
The correlation of integrin expression and pancreatic hormones was determined by immunocytochemical staining in consecutive sections (Figure 3). Cells in isolated islets were positive for integrin
This is the first report of integrin expression on islet cells in the hamster, canine, porcine, and human pancreas. This comparative study, in which islets from four commonly used species were examined before and after islet isolation, is unique and contributes new and important information to the field of islet cell biology. We also show that the peri-insular basement membrane is destroyed during the process of islet isolation.
The only previous report of integrin expression in the human pancreas is that by
The pattern of integrin expression on acinar, duct, and islet cells in the normal pancreas of the four different species was similar but not identical. Moreover, integrin expression also varied among cell types in each species. This observation is interesting from an ontogenetic viewpoint, given that the duct cell is presumed to give rise to both islet and acinar cells (
The role of integrin family members in the regulation of apoptosis has recently been recognized, based, in part, on their capacity to trigger discrete intracellular phosphorylation events and to initiate gene transcription (
The second morphological finding of the present study was the loss of the peri-insular BM as a result of the isolation process. BM is one of the two forms of extracellular matrix (ECM), the other being the interstitial matrix (
The composition and distribution of pancreatic ECM, and in particular the peri-insular BM, in rat, dog, pig, and human, have been reported by
Although a variable loss of the peri-insular BM has also been reported by other investigators (
ECM also plays an essential role in maintenance of cell differentiation ( In summary, we have characterized the integrin expression and distribution of the peri-insular BM in the human, porcine, canine, and hamster pancreas. We show that, after islet isolation, the BM is destroyed and integrin expression is altered. The resulting cellmatrix disruption could have profound implications for normal islet function and survival, both before and after islet transplantation. These alterations in normal islet structure and function offer a new explanation for the difference in the success of vascularized pancreas grafts compared to isolated islet transplants. If these preliminary findings are confirmed, then new strategies that take advantage of pharmacological manipulation of the cellmatrix relationship may offer a valuable new approach to improving the outcome of islet transplantation.
Supported by grants from the Sam Soloman Fund of the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) of Canada. Dr. Wang is supported by a fellowship from the Canadian Diabetes Association in honor of Herbert L. and Francis Nussbaum. Dr. Rosenberg is a senior clinicianscientist of the Fond de la Recherche Scientifique du Quebec (FRSQ). We thank D. Agapitos, N. Malek, and A. Torrisi for expert technical assistance. Received for publication September 4, 1998; accepted November 10, 1998.
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