Figure 2.

AAT reduces immediate release of C-peptide and inhibits islet cell death after transplantation. A: Serum C-peptide levels in AAT-treated and control (Ctrl) recipients 3 and 6 h PT as measured by ELISA. B: Islets in liver sections from AAT-treated mice showed fewer TUNEL⁺ dead cells compared with islets from control mice 24 h after islet transplantation. Nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue) and β-cells with anti-insulin antibody (red). Arrowheads point to TUNEL⁺ cells (green) within an islet. C: Percentage of TUNEL⁺ cells per islet graft as determined after microscopic evaluation of intrahepatic islets randomly selected from three different recipients in Ctrl (25 islets with sizes of 10,900.5 ± 3,700.7 µm²) and AAT (20 islets with sizes of 9,480.4 ± 4,840.2 µm²) groups. Results are expressed as means ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 by Student t test.