Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Current status of imaging pancreatic islets

  • Published:
Current Diabetes Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The ability to image the pancreatic islet in vivo would enhance our understanding of diabetes and accelerate improvements in islet transplantation. However, the small size of islets and their diffuse distribution (both natively and after transplantation) present formidable challenges for current imaging techniques. This article reviews the relative merits and shortcomings of several imaging modalities in humans and in animal models of diabetes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References and Recommended Reading

  1. Shapiro AMJ, Lakey JRT, Ryan EA, et al.: Islet transplantation in seven patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus using a glucocorticoid-free immunosuppressive regimen. N Engl J Med 2000, 343:230 -238.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hirshberg B, Rother KI, Digon IB, et al.: State of the art: islet transplantation for the cure of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Rev Endocr Metab Disord 2003, 4:381–389.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Paty BW, Bonner-Weir S, Laughlin MR, et al.: Toward development of imaging modalities for islets after transplantation: insights from the National Institutes of Health Workshop on Beta Cell Imaging. Transplantation 2004, 77:1133–1137. This summarizes a recent National Institutes of Health workshop on islet imaging.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Cassidy PJ, Radda GK: Molecular imaging perspectives. J R Soc Interface 2005, 2:133–144.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Markmann JF, Rosen M, Siegelman ES, et al.: Magnetic resonance-defined periportal steatosis following intraportal islet transplantation: a functional footprint of islet graft survival? Diabetes 2003, 52:1591–1594.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Maf P, Angeli E, Bertuzzi F, et al.: Minimal focal steatosis of liver after islet transplantation in humans: a long-term study. Cell Transplant 2005, 14:727–733.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bhargava R, Senior PA, Ackerman TE, et al.: Prevalence of hepatic steatosis after islet transplantation and its relation to graft function. Diabetes 2004, 53:1311–1317.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Eckhard M, Lommel D, Hackstein N, et al.: Disseminated periportal fatty degeneration after allogeneic intraportal islet transplantation in a patient with type 1 diabetes mellitus: a case report. Transplant Proc 2004, 36:1111–1116.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Sohn J, Siegelman E, Osiason A: Unusual patterns of hepatic steatosis caused by the local effect of insulin revealed on chemical shift MR imaging. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2001, 176:471–474.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bulte JW, Kraitchman DL: Iron oxide MR contrast agents for molecular and cellular imaging. NMR Biomed 2004, 17:484–499.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Jirak D, Kriz J, Herynek V, et al.: MRI of transplanted pancreatic islets. Magn Reson Med 2004, 52:1228–1233.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Kriz J, Jirak D, Girman P, et al.: Magnetic resonance imaging of pancreatic islets in tolerance and rejection. Transplantation 2005, 80:1596–1603.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Evgenov NV, Medarova Z, Dai G, et al.: In vivo imaging of islet transplantation. Nat Med 2006, 12:144–148.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Okon E, Pouliquen D, Okon P, et al.: Biodegradation of magnetite dextran nanoparticles in the rat. A histologic and biophysical study. Lab Invest 1994, 71:895–903.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Zheng Q, Dai H, Merritt ME, et al.: A new class of macrocyclic lanthanide complexes for cell labeling and magnetic resonance imaging applications. J Am Chem Soc 2005, 127:16178–16188.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Morawski AM, Winter PM, Crowder KC, et al.: Targeted nanoparticles for quantitative imaging of sparse molecular epitopes with MRI. Magn Reson Med 2004, 51:480–486.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Moore A, Grimm J, Han B, Santamaria P: Tracking the recruitment of diabetogenic CD8+ T-cells to the pancreas in real time. Diabetes 2004, 53:1459–1466.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Pober JS, Cotran RS: The role of endothelial cells in inflammation. Transplantation 1990, 50:537–544.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Denis MC, Mahmood U, Benoist C, et al.: Imaging inflammation of the pancreatic islets in type 1 diabetes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2004, 101:12634 -12639.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Sweet IR, Cook DL, Lernmark A, et al.: Systematic screening of potential beta-cell imaging agents. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2004, 314:976–983.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Sweet IR, Cook DL, Lernmark A, et al.: Non-invasive imaging of beta cell mass: a quantitative analysis. Diabetes Technol Ther 2004, 6:652–659.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Schneider S, Feilen PJ, Schreckenberger M, et al.: In vitro and in vivo evaluation of novel glibenclamide derivatives as imaging agents for the non-invasive assessment of the pancreatic islet cell mass in animals and humans. Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 2005, 113:388–395.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Otonkoski T, Nanto-Salonen K, Seppanen M, et al.: Noninvasive diagnosis of focal hyperinsulinism of infancy with [18F]-DOPA positron emission tomography. Diabetes 2006, 55:13–18.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Clark PB, Gage HD, Brown-Proctor C, et al.: Neurofunctional imaging of the pancreas utilizing the cholinergic PET radioligand [18F]4-fluorobenzyltrozamicol. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2004, 31:258–260.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Moore A, Bonner-Weir S, Weissleder R: Noninvasive in vivo measurement of beta-cell mass in mouse model of diabetes. Diabetes 2001, 50:2231–2236.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Ladriere L, Malaisse-Lagae F, Alejandro R, Malaisse WJ: Pancreatic fate of a (125)I-labelled mouse monoclonal antibody directed against pancreatic B-cell surface ganglioside(s) in control and diabetic rats. Cell Biochem Funct 2001, 19:107–115.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Samli KN, McGuire MJ, Newgard CB, et al.: Peptidemediated targeting of the islets of Langerhans. Diabetes 2005, 54:2103–2108.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Kraitchman DL, Tatsumi M, Gilson WD, et al.: Dynamic imaging of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells trafficking to myocardial infarction. Circulation 2005, 112:1451–1461.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Toso C, Zaidi H, Morel P, et al.: Positron-emission tomography imaging of early events after transplantation of islets of Langerhans. Transplantation 2005, 79:353–355.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Massoud TF, Gambhir SS: Molecular imaging in living subjects: seeing fundamental biological processes in a new light. Genes Dev 2003, 17:545–580.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Powers AC, Jansen ED: In vivo bioluminescence imaging to assess pancreatic islets. Curr Med Chem Immunol Endocr Metab Agents 2004, 4:339–348. This provides an overview of bioluminescence imaging of pancreatic islets.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Contag CH, Spilman SD, Contag PR, et al.: Visualizing gene expression in living mammals using a bioluminescent reporter. Photochem Photobiol 1997, 66:523–531.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Ignowski JM, Schaffer DV: Kinetic analysis and modeling of firefly luciferase as a quantitative reporter gene in live mammalian cells. Biotechnol Bioeng 2004, 86:827–834.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Fowler M, Virostko J, Chen Z, et al.: Assessment of pancreatic islet mass after islet transplantation using in vivo bioluminescence imaging. Transplantation 2005, 79:768–776.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Lu Y, Dang H, Middleton B, et al.: Bioluminescent monitoring of islet graft survival after transplantation. Mol Ther 2004, 9:428–435.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Chen X, Kaufman DB: Bioluminescence imaging of pancreatic islet transplants. Curr Med Chem Immunol Endocr Metab Agents 2004, 4:301–309.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Virostko J, Chen Z, Fowler M, et al.: Factors influencing quantification of in vivo bioluminescence imaging: application to assessment of pancreatic islet transplants. Mol Imaging 2004, 3:333–342.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Park SY, Wang X, Chen Z, et al.: Optical imaging of pancreatic beta cells in living mice expressing a mouse insulin I promoter-firefly luciferase transgene. Genesis 2005, 43:80–86.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Smith SJ, Zhang H, Clermont AO, et al.: In vivo monitoring of pancreatic beta-cells in a transgenic mouse model. Mol Imaging 2006, in press.

  40. Hara M, Yin D, Dizon RF, et al.: A mouse model for studying intrahepatic islet transplantation. Transplantation 2004, 78:615–618.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Hara M, Dizon RF, Glick BS, et al.: Imaging pancreatic beta-cells in the pancreas. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2006, 290:E1041-E1047.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Souza F, Simpson N, Raffo A, et al.: Longitudinal noninvasive PET-based beta cell mass estimates in a spontaneous diabetes rat model. J Clin Invest 2006, 116:1506–1513.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, 715 PRB, Vanderbilt University, 37232, Nashville, TN, USA

    Alvin C. Powers MD

Authors
  1. John Virostko MS
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eric Duco Jansen PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alvin C. Powers MD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alvin C. Powers MD.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Virostko, J., Jansen, E.D. & Powers, A.C. Current status of imaging pancreatic islets. Curr Diab Rep 6, 328–332 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-006-0069-9

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-006-0069-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation