Pancreatic tissues

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus, a disorder of glucose homeostasis, is a leading cause of morbidity and premature mortality in the world. During the last 75 years, since the discovery of insulin therapy, there have been no new major developments in treating this disease. Thus, the ability to engineer pancreatic tissue is an attractive approach, and as tissue engineering technology advances, this novel therapy is now becoming a reality. Transplantation of engineered pancreatic islets will not only eliminate the need for daily insulin injections, but will also prove effective in preventing or retarding the development of complications associated with diabetes. In this chapter, current technologies for pancreatic tissue engineering, novel sources for insulin producing b-cells, and safe transplantation techniques to treat diabetes are discussed.