Historical review of pancreatic islet transplantation

This historical perspective attempts to document the origin and early work of islet tissue transplantation. In the final analysis, most of these early experiments were failures. However, the ideas were clearly appropriate and in place at a very early phase. The first islet tissue transplantation was done in 1893; that is 29 years prior to the Banting's and Best's discovery of insulin therapy. Most of our current active approaches have been tried in the past. As is the case in many areas in science, the problems were defined with ideas and solutions outlined long ago. Yet, the problems were not solvable because of inadequate technology. The insight behind these early experiments must be admired, knowing the limited knowledge that was available. Keeping this historical perspective in mind as we work through our technologic opportunities may be of assistance as we approach our goal of clinical islet transplantation.