Long-term hormonal secretion from the autotransplanted sheep pancreas.

Seventy-five duct-ligated pancreatic segmental autotransplants were made into bipedicled skin loops on the necks of merino ewes by vascular suture to the carotid artery and jugular vein; the in situ pancreatic remnants apparently continued to function normally. Thirty-seven were found to be active hormone secretors (secretion-rate responses to Na butyrate greater than 1 mU/min for insulin or 5 ng/min for glucagon) when first tested approximately 1 month after transplantation; 12 remained active at 1 year, 5 at 2 years, and 4 at 3 years. At first testing, the responses were (mean +/- standard errors): insulin, 12.3 +/- 2.52 mU/min; glucagon, 52.6 +/- 13.5 ng/min. It is concluded that this autotransplant can, on occasion, be relatively long-lived and that it is a useful model with which to study not only pancreatic physiology but also non-immunological factors involved in survival of endocrine function in pancreatic transplants.