Maintaining islet viability after pancreas procurement is critical for optimal graft function and survival in islet transplantation. It is recently reported that islet yield and function were significantly higher for pancreas preserved in the modified solution added with trypsin inhibitor (ulinastatin). In this study, the FDA-cleared LifePort ^® platform was applied for porcine pancreas preservation, which provided a pulsatile circulation of a perfusate with KPS1 solution added with ulinastatin (100×10³ U/L) during preservation. In the control group, pancreas was preserved by traditional cold storage. After 24 hours, the pancreas was distended by intraductal collagenase NB injection and normothermically digested. The isolated islets were purified by a continuous density-gradient centrifugation. The islet yield, islet viability, stimulation index and postpreservation edema were compared between the ulinastatin group (n=7) and control group (n=8). There was difference of islet yield (IEQ/g of pancreas) between the ulinastatin group (2094±439) and control group (899±214). And the islet viability in ulinastatin group (97.7±0.5 %) was significant higher than that in control group (90.1±0.9 %). Furthermore, the stimulation index was significantly higher in the ulinastatin group (2.49±0.25) than that in control group (1.54±0.21). Postpreservation edema in the control group (-1.9±0.4%) was lower than that in ulinastatin group (129±16%). In summary, hypothermic machine perfusion with ulinastatin in pancreas preservation improved islet yield and function.

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