Modulation of pancreatic islet allo immunogenicity and immunobiological in vitro and in vivo consequences

No abstract available

New principle for large-scale preparation of purified human pancreas islets

Because successful human islet transplantation requires large quantities of viable islets that must be separated from the highly immunogenic exocrine tissue and because handpicking is too time-consuming and laborious to be clinically relevant, a new approach for solving this problem has been established in rat models. It is based on the principle that magnetic microspheres (MMSs) coupled to lectins with binding specificity for the exocrine tissue portion are trapped in an electromagnetic field, thus providing effluent islets of a high degree of purity. In this study our aim was to adapt this princip'le to human islet preparations. In this context our prime interest was focused on a lectin suitable for human pancreatic tissue. Of 19 different lectins tested, only 1, Wisteria floribunda agglutinin (WFA), is suitable, as shown by immunofluorescence, MMS-Iectin binding, and magnetic separatio

Measurement of rat insulin. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with increased sensitivity, high accuracy, and greater practicability than established radioimmunoassay

Total immunoreactive insulin (IRI) is conventionally determined by radioimmunoassays. IR! measurement in rats can be made more sensitive, accurate, and practical, as demonstrated by a new modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELlSA). It is characterized by indirect binding of an anti-insulin antibody by an antiglobulin antibody and uses the principle of competitive saturation. In this ELlSA, IRI can be determined in a wide range of concentrations, corresponding to the standards. The standard curve ranges from 100 to 0.049 ng/mllRI (1 ng/ml - 23.4 JLU/ml - 172 pM rat insulin). The statistical analysis shows between- and within-assay coefficients of variation of :515%. Diabetes 37:321-26,198

Immunoelectron microscopic localization of MHC structures in isolated pancreatic rat islets

An immunogold-silver enhancement technique, which combines effective labeling of viable isolated islets with the ultrastructural resolution of cytological details, was applied in electron microscopy to identify major histocompatibility complex (MHC) structures on islet cells. Incubation of freshly isolated islets from CAP (RT1C) and LEW (RT1') rats with OX18, an MHC class I antibody, showed strong positive reactivity in macrophages and/or dendritic-like cells (M0-DCs) and vascular endothelial cells (VEs) and a comparatively weaker reactivity in endocrine a-, p-, and 8-ce"s. With MHC class" antibody OX6 (anti-I-A), M0-DCs were strongly labeled in both rat strains on the surface and on internal structures. Three of five particularly high titered batches of OX6 revealed MHC class" expression on VE and p-ce"s. Four days of in vitro culture in combination with a high concentration of glucose and interferon-'Y induced strong enhancement of MHC class I structures and, to a lesser extent, class " structures on p-ce"s

Long-standing rat kidney graft survival by a combination of organ perfusion with MHC class II monoclonal antibody and immunosuppression with reduced doses of 15-deoxyspergualin.

No abstract availabl

Graft-versus-host reaction in small bowel transplantation and possibilities for its circumvention

No abstract availabl

The human brain is a detector of chemosensorily transmitted HLA-class I-similarity in same- and opposite-sex relations

Studies on subjective body odour ratings suggest that humans exhibit preferences for human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-dissimilar persons. However, with regard to the extreme polymorphism of the HLA gene loci, the behavioural impact of the proposed HLA-related attracting signals seems to be minimal. Furthermore, the role of HLA-related chemosignals in same- and opposite-sex relations in humans has not been specified so far. Here, we investigate subjective preferences and brain evoked responses to body odours in males and females as a function of HLA similarity between odour donor and smeller. We show that pre-attentive processing of body odours of HLA-similar donors is faster and that late evaluative processing of these chemosignals activates more neuronal resources than the processing of body odours of HLA-dissimilar donors. In same-sex smelling conditions, HLA-associated brain responses show a different local distribution in male (frontal) and female subjects (parietal). The electrophysiological results are supported by significant correlations between the odour ratings and the amplitudes of the brain potentials. We conclude that odours of HLA-similar persons function as important social warning signals in inter- and intrasexual human relations. Such HLA-related chemosignals may contribute to female and male mate choice as well as to male competitive behaviour