August 1995, I started designing the clinical promising islet purification solution of Iodixanal in UW-Solution (UWS). I mixed Optiprep – a 60 % solution of iodixanol in water – with a 2-times concentrated UWS, to prepare this density gradient solution. The first standard operation procedure of this Iodixanol-UWS gradient for our pig islet isolation research was completed November 1995.
This purification solution was a logical follow-up of our highly succesful Percoll-UWS density gradient — a similar solution of impermeants (that do not readily enter cells) with similar osmolarity (close to that of the tissue) , more practical though, and with the important advantage that iodixanol is clinical tested.
The Leiden Islet Lab had just moved into the Surgery Lab in the new LUMC building, and the islet team had grown, focussing on xenotransplantation. With more people isolating pig islets, more convenient solutions were tried.
Both Percoll-UWS and Histopaque-UWS were being used from 1992 for small scale islet isolations from juvenile pig pancreases.
July 1996, I introduced the Optiprep-UWS gradient to replace our Percoll-UWS gradient for larger scale porcine islet isolations.
The work was first presented September 1997, both in a poster presented at the Xenotransplantation Congress in Nantes , France (1), and later that month in two talks at the 6th Congress of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association (IPITA) in Milan (Italy). The slideshow of the first talk (2) will be online at this site soon.
Here the remastered slideshow of the 2nd talk at the 6th IPITA Congress in Milan, presented Saturday, 27th September, 1997 (3).
Notes
1) Van der Burg MPM, Basir I, Bouwman E. Non-traumatic porcine islet density gradient purification in a novel iodixanol in University of Wisconsin solution. The 4th Int. Congress for Xenotransplantation, Nantes (France) Sept. 7–11, 1997. Online in : Purification Islets in Iodixanol-UWS • Leiden Start 1996 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250126 • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/01/26/
2) Van der Burg MPM, Basir I, Bouwman E. No porcine islet loss during density gradient purification in a novel iodixanol in University of Wisconsin solution. Sixth Congress of the Int. Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association (IPITA), Milan (Italy) Sept. 24–27, 1997.
3) Van der Burg MPM, Basir I, Zwaan RP, Bouwman E. Porcine islet preservation during isolation in University of Wisconsin solution. Sixth Congress of the Int. Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association (IPITA), Milan (Italy) Sept. 24–27, 1997.
Milan Papers • @1MEMO 20250205 • Manuscripts (Preprints) and Abstracts copies of the presentations at the IPITA 1997 meeting in Milan (Italy). PDF downloads at michelvanderburg•com/2025/02/05/
Updates
Update 20250128 – update intro design timeline
Update 20250205 – added link to manuscripts and abstracts
Citation info : Porcine Islet Preservation In UWS • IPITA 97 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • @1MEMO 20250127 • TakeNode 6d6fca2e-014c-40cf-8110-725b267c0b0e • URL michelvanderburg.com/2025/01/27/
