ARTIFICIAL PANCREATIC PERFUSION DEVICE WITH TEMPERATURE SENSITIVE MATRIX

摘要

A device which serves as an artificial pancreas comprises a hollow fiber (12) which is surrounded by islets of Langerhans (14) enclosed in a housing (22). The islets are suspended in a temperature sensitive matrix (25) which is sufficiently viscous to support islets at a temperature below about 45 DEG C and sufficiently fluid to enable removal of islet suspension at a temperature above about 45 DEG C. A warm (e.g., 48 DEG to 50 DEG C) solution may be flushed through the device to change the physical state of the temperature sensitive matrix from a semi-solid state to a liquified semi-gel state. The temperature sensitive supporting material also enables long term maintenance of islet cells in in vitro culture.