Growth of Pancreatic Islet Tissue in the Anterior Chamber of the Eye

Abstract

SINCE Minkowski¹ showed that the presence of a subcutaneous implant of a portion of pancreas would prevent the development of diabetes in an otherwise totally depancreatized dog, various investigators have observed the changes (histological and physiological) which follow the grafting of pancreatic tissue into different sites. Grafts have been made into the spleen, muscle coat of the intestines, stomach, cervical region² and abdominal wall³. In some cases autografts and in others homografts were made. Bottin², using dogs, anastomosed the pancreatic and carotico-jugular circulations in the neck but obtained a survival time of only a few hours. Simard³, however, reported survival of islet tissue, neuro-insular complexes and small amounts of acinar tissue for two months after transplantation of pancreas to the abdominal wall of the dog. Splenic grafts were unsuccessful.