Figure 3.

hBMSCs protected the function of human islets against the inflammatory cytokines. (a) The dynamic insulin release from human islets. Briefly, 50 islets from each group were perifused with basal glucose (1.67 mmol/l) for 60 minutes, stimulatory glucose (16.7 mmol/l) for 30 minutes, and finally basal glucose until the insulin release reversed to the basal level. The flow rate was maintained at 1 ml/minute and the temperature was maintained at 37 °C. Samples were collected once per 2 minutes and analyzed for insulin concentration. For the cytokine treatment groups, islets, alone or with hBMSCs, were stimulated with a cytokine cocktail (50 ng/ml tumor necrosis factor-α, 5 ng/ml IL-1β, and 50 ng/ml interferon-γ) for 4 days prior to perifusion. (b) Cumulative insulin release calculated from dynamic insulin release profile on the left. n = 3. hBMSCs, human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells.