Apoptosis in cultured rat islets of Langerhans and occurrence of Bcl-2, Bak, Bax, Fas and Fas ligand

Isolated Langerhans islets are widely used for diabetic transplantation experiments and investigations of the mechanisms leading to the death or survival of insulin-producing cells in cultured islets. The present study was aimed at investigating programmed cell death and the role of apoptosis-associated peptides in insulin and glucagon cells of islets isolated from untreated rats and held in cultured suspension. Islets were removed from medium on days 0, 7, 14, 21 and 29, embedded in Epon, and semi-thin serial sections were prepared. At designated intervals, histologic sections were treated with the direct fluorescein-labelled TUNEL method and immunostained for pancreatic hormones (glucagon, insulin) and apoptotic peptides [Bak, Bax, Pas, Pas ligand (FasL)], as well as for the anti-apoptotic peptide Bcl-2. All tissue sections were investigated using confocal laser scanning microscopy under identical setting for semiquantitative estimation of staining intensity. The percentage of apoptotic cells was between 1.6 and 2.1% and most apoptotic cells were beta-cells. Corresponding cells often contained Bak and Bax. Fas and Fast were mostly detected in islet cells within the first week after preparing the cultured suspension. The insulin content was low (1.1 +/- 0.22 ng per islet) directly after isolation. It then increased progressively up to day 14!, after which it began to decrease. Glucagon expression, on the other hand, remained high for the entire duration of the investigation. In conclusion, the islet beta-cells may recover after the isolation procedure, but after 4 weeks in culture, both the insulin content and Bcl-2 staining decrease. Moreover, apoptosis is mediated by different mechanisms after the isolation procedure and after culturing the islets for 1 month. The present data may be important for further studies on isolated, cultivated or transplanted islets. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.