Differential sensitivity of human islets from obese versus lean donors to chronic high glucose or palmitate

Background: Due to the shortage of multi-organ donors, human pancreatic islet transplantation has now been extended to islets originating from obese subjects. In this study, our aim is to compare the respective sensitivity of human islets from lean vs obese donors to chronic high glucose or high palmitate.

Methods: Human islets were isolated from pancreases harvested from brain-dead multi-organ donors. Islets were cultured during 72 hours in the presence of moderate (16.7 mmol/L) or high (28 mmoL/L) glucose concentrations, or glucose (5.6 mmoL/L) and palmitate (0.4 mmoL/L), before measurement of their response to glucose.

Results: We first observed a greater insulin response in islets from obese donors under both basal and high-glucose conditions, confirming their hyperresponsiveness to glucose. When islets from obese donors were cultured in the presence of moderate or high glucose concentrations, insulin response to glucose remained unchanged or was slightly reduced, as opposed to that observed in lean subjects. Moreover, culturing islets from obese donors with high palmitate also induced less reduction in insulin response to glucose than in lean subjects. This partial protection of obese islets is associated with less induction of inducible nitric oxide synthase in islets, together with a greater expression of the transcription factor forkhead box O1 (FOXO1).

Conclusions: Our data suggest that in addition to an increased sensitivity to glucose, islets from obese subjects can be considered as more resistant to glucose and fatty acid excursions and are thus valuable candidates for transplantation.