Transplantation of pancreatic islet tissue and the control of diabetes mellitus.

The major advances achieved in recent years in pancreatic islet cell transplantation in animals and man are presented and reviewed. In animals, the biochemical and structural changes present in experimentally induced diabetes mellitus can be reversed in part or whole following transplantation. Fetal or neonatal pancreatic islet cell preparations are probably the most appropriate tissue types to employ in the human situation. The optimal conditions for their maintenance to allow such an approach to the therapy of diabetes are under active investigation.