Morphology, yield and functional integrity of islet-like cell clusters in tissue culture of human fetal pancreata obtained after different means of abortion.

Morphology, yield and function were studied in cultured islet-like cell clusters (ICC) from 140 human fetal pancreata obtained after abortions of different types performed at 11-23 weeks of gestation (12 by hysterotomy, 75 by mechanical dilation and extraction, and 53 induced with prostaglandin). After collagenase digestion and culture in medium supplemented with 10% human serum, up to 2000 free-floating ICC were formed from a single pancreas. Randomly scattered insulin- and glucagon-immunoreactive cells were found in the medullary part of the ICC. More than 100 ICC developed in 100% of the hysterotomies and 87% of the mechanical abortions, but in only 53% of the prostaglandin-induced abortions. Insulin and glucagon levels in the culture medium decreased rapidly during the first 7 days of culture, but then remained stable for at least 31 days. The hysterotomy-derived ICC responded to 10 mmol/l theophylline plus 20 mmol/l glucose by a 12.2 +/- 3.1 (SEM, N = 7) fold increase in insulin release, as compared with a 5.4 +/- 0.9 fold response of the prostaglandin ICC (N = 16; P less than 0.02). Despite the low proportion of B-cells, (pro)insulin biosynthesis accounted for 10% of the total protein biosynthesis in low (2 mmol/l) glucose. In conclusion, the yield and viability of the ICC were clearly better, if prostaglandin had not been used for the induction of the abortion.