Peritoneal exudates from microencapsulated rat islets of Langerhans xenografted mice presenting characteristics of potentially cytotoxic non-specific inflammation

Abstract

Grafted polyacrylamide microencapsulated islets of Langerhans in the peritoneal cavity of mice did not survive more than a few days, perhaps owing to a nonspecific inflammatory reaction or an immune rejection. To assess the two hypotheses, we used flow cytometry (FACS) to analyse cell populations of empty or islet-loaded microcapsules grafted in the peritoneal cavity of mice, and performed cytotoxic assays with proteases secreted by inflammatory cells. An immune rejection did not seem to occur, but the degree of inflammation could explain the short life of the grafts.