Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Medicine

Isolation of Human Islets from Partially Pancreatectomized Patients

Gregor Bötticher¹, Dorothèe Sturm¹, Florian Ehehalt¹, Klaus P. Knoch², Stephan Kersting¹, Robert Grützmann¹, Gustavo B. Baretton³, Michele Solimena², Hans D. Saeger¹

¹Department of GI-, Thorax- and Vascular Surgery, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, University of Technology Dresden, ²Molecular Diabetology, Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden, ³Department of Pathology, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, University of Technology Dresden

The supply of type 2 diabetic islets for research is insufficient. Here we share our protocol for isolating islets from patients undergoing partial pancreatectomy. This approach represents a unique venue for obtaining islets from type 2 diabetic and clinically matched non-diabetic subjects in adequate numbers for basic and clinical studies.

Medicine

Improved Protocol For Laser Microdissection Of Human Pancreatic Islets From Surgical Specimens

Dorothée Sturm^1,2, Lorella Marselli³, Florian Ehehalt^1,2, Daniela Richter¹, Marius Distler², Stephan Kersting^1,2, Robert Grützmann², Krister Bokvist⁴, Philippe Froguel⁵, Robin Liechti⁶, Anne Jörns⁷, Paolo Meda⁸, Gustavo Bruno Baretton⁹, Hans-Detlev Saeger², Anke M. Schulte¹⁰, Piero Marchetti³, Michele Solimena¹

¹Molecular Diabetology, Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden, ²Department of GI-, Thoracic- and Vascular Surgery, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, University of Technology Dresden, ³Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Metabolic Unit University of Pisa, ⁴Labs DC0522, Lilly Corporate Center, ⁵Genomics, Faculty of Medicine Imperial College London, ⁶Vital-IT, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, ⁷Clinical Biochemistry, Hannover Medical School, ⁸Cell Physiology and Metabolism, Medical School, University of Geneva, ⁹Department of Pathology, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, University of Technology Dresden, ¹⁰R&D DIAB Division / Translational Medicine, Sanofi-Aventis

Laser microdissection is a technique that allows the recovery of selected cells from minute amounts of parenchyma. Here we describe a protocol for acquiring human pancreatic islets from surgical specimens to be used for transcriptomic studies. Our protocol improves the intrinsic autofluorescence of human beta cells, thus facilitating their collection.