Cryopreservation of rat islets of Langerhans by vitrification.

Cryopreservation could be a possible means of addressing the shortage of islets of Langerhans. We investigated the effects of EDT324 solution on the vitrification of isolated rat islets of Langerhans. Rat pancreatic islets were cryopreserved in 10% DMSO by a slow-rate freezing method or were cryopreserved in EDT324 solution by vitrification. The cryopreserved islets were compared in terms of viability, stimulation index and metabolic function after transplantation. After cryopreservation, the viability and stimulation of islets stored in EDT324 were 92.4% and 6.4, respectively, and were higher than islets stored by slow freezing (72.5% and 1.5, respectively). Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats were transplanted with islets cryopreserved in EDT324, which corrected diabetes and achieved euglycemia within 2 days after transplantation. These results indicate that EDT324 allows successful cryopreservation of rat islets for long-term storage as an alternative solution to traditionally used solutions, such as 10% DMSO. Transplantation of cryopreserved islets into diabetic rats can achieve euglycemia.