Myths about the structure and function of porcine islets

As we consider using porcine islets for human transplantation many questions about the porcine ß cells arise. Issues about how many are necessary, how their mass is influenced by glycemic levels, how much they can be renewed, and how to measure their mass need to be addressed. Our knowledge from rodent studies can initially be extrapolated since there are more similarities between mammalian islets than differences. Eventually, porcine islets will need to be studied carefully for these parameters.