Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have successfully created an implantable bioartificial pancreas model grown within a 3D silk scaffold. The “pancreas”, which encapsulates insulin-producing cells, is capable of naturally producing insulin in a sustained manner. If successful in animal and human trials, it can be used for treating people with type 1 diabetes.
The silk scaffold was found to be biocompatible (not toxic to living tissue) as it did not trigger any immune reaction or cause any adverse reaction when implanted.
The silk scaffold (6 mm in diameter and 2 mm in thickness) was made porous by using salt grains of specific size to dissolve the silk proteins. The pores — 400-500 micrometre in size — allowed glucose and oxygen to enter the scaffold and insulin released by the beta cells to enter the bloodstream; there was also greater cell survival. Insulin producing beta cells taken from 8- to 10-week-old rats were added to the scaffold.
The team led by Prof. Biman Mandal from the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Guwahati coated the scaffold containing beta cells with a semi-permeable membrane barrier. The membrane allows insulin produced to be released into the blood stream but does not allow the immune cells to cross the membrane and kill the islet cells.
The researchers are planning to carry out trials in animals. “We have already produced diabetic rats and would soon implant the scaffold in these rats to reverse diabetes,” says Prof. Mandal. “In humans the scaffold can be implanted in the fat layer present in the belly.”
