Grafting Pancreatic Islets: A Method to Implant Pancreatic Islets into the Anterior Chamber of the Mouse Eye for In Vivo Imaging

Abstract

Source: Nilsson, J.et. al. A Longitudinal In Vivo Imaging and Quantification of Human Pancreatic Islet Grafting and Contributing Host Cells in the Anterior Eye Chamber. J. Vis. Exp. (2020).

This video describes the protocol for grafting human pancreatic islets into the anterior chamber of the mouse’s eye to monitor revascularization of human islet grafts in vivo. It also helps to understand the contribution of recipient versus donor cells in promoting the encapsulation and vascularization of the graft.

Protocol

All procedures involving animal models have been reviewed by the local institutional animal care committee and the jove veterinary review board 1. Preparation of transplantation equipment and surgery table NOTE: All surgical tools should be autoclaved, and the surgery table and instruments disinfected with 70% alcohol. Connect a stereotaxic head holder to anesthesia via a nose mask and turn on the heating pad. …

Representative Results

Figure 1: Transplantation of pancreatic islets into the anterior chamber of the eye. (a) Transplantation setup showing anesthetized mouse fixed in stereotaxic head holder and the exposed eye (inset) next to the prepared Hamilton syringe fixed to the table and the stereomicroscope ready to pick mouse islets (b) or human islets (c). (d) Waiting position of th…

Materials

Clean Bench coat
Heating pad			Set to 37 °C
Ivis Lumina ll Bioluminescent imager	Caliper		Alternative bioluminescent imaging systems include In vivo F PRO (Carestream) and Photon Imager (Biospace Lab)
Dissecting scissors
Iris forceps (serrated)
Needle holder
27 G 0.3 ml insulin syringe	Terumo	T35525M2913