Primate Islet Isolation and Purification in Iodixanol-UWS •
@1MEMO_20260425
by Michel van der Burg, April 25th, 2026
In early 1999, ahead of the official launch of the clinical islet transplantation program at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), the author conducted a pilot study to assess whether a novel islet purification method could be applied to non-human primates.
The method combined Iodixanol (Optiprep/Visipaque) with University of Wisconsin Solution (UWS) — a preservation fluid used for donor organ storage. This Iodixanol-UWS approach had proven effective for purifying pig islets since 1996, and had been trialed on human donor islets during a 1998 visit to the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) in Miami.
Islets were isolated from four non-human primates — one cynomolgus and three rhesus macaques — whose pancreases were procured during euthanasia of animals used in unrelated studies at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in Holland.
Islets were purified by centrifugation in the Iodixanol-UWS gradient.
Results were excellent: an average yield of 3,697 islets / gram pancreas before purification, with 94% purity and 90% recovery after purification. Viability assessments , and a 98% culture survival confirmed high islet quality.
Colleague Krista Haanstra conducted immunogenicity analyses using a Mixed Lymphocyte Islet Culture (MLIC) assay.
Biosafety protocols for non-human primate tissue proved valuable preparation for the subsequent launch of human islet isolations at LUMC later that month.
Read the full report at michelvanderburg.com/2026/04/25/
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Citation: Primate Islet Isolation and Purification in Iodixanol-UWS •
@1MEMO_20260425 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • michelvanderburg.com/2026/04/25/
Michel van der Burg
