Seaweed fight diabetes and thicken cat food

By Atle Kjærvik

In May 6, 1993 Steven Craig underwent the first human transplant of an artificial pancreas. The surgery was carried out by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong of St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

Since May 1993, an artificial pancreas of insulin secreting islets in "jelly capsules" has been successfully implanted in the abdomen of 38 year old Steven Craig of Lake Isabella, USA. He has been diabetic for more than 30 years.

Two days after the transplant, Craig was able to eat his first breakfast in 30 years without an accompanying insulin injection. Four months later (when this was written), Craig was still living a new, injection-free life.

Scientists now hope that within five or six years, such artificial pancreas will free millions of diabetics from the need for insulin injections. In the United States for instance, there are about one million suffering from the disease, and from long-term complications such as heart-attacks, strokes, kidney malfunction, nerve damage in the limbs and blindness.

The implant was carried out by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong of St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, California USA. Soon-Shoing injected about half a million islets into the patient´s abdomen, encapsulated in small "jelly capsules" made of alginic acid (a polymer from kelp). These have a porous membrane that admits encapsulated insulin-secreting islets from cadavers to release their insulin to a patient´s body. It is the specially designed alginates that keep the cells safe from attacks by the diabetic´s immune system and from white blood cells. The implant was the first of a series of 20 that the scientists hope to carry out in a two-year period (1993-94).

The capsules were first implanted in diabetic dogs, and the results quickly proved to be promising. The subsequent step of implanting the capsules in humans could therefore be carried out according to the scientist´s plans. If the device is shown to be effective, researchers now hope to use pigs as islet donors.

It was researchers from NOBIPOL (The Norwegian Biopolymer Labora-tory) at NTH and the Institute of Cancer Research in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Trondheim, in collaboration with the Norwegian company Pronova Biopolymer A/S and the University of California, that finally succeeded in developing the small capsules or beads of alginate.

NOBIPOL is a multi-disciplinary research group, lead by Professor Smidsrød (Institute for Biotechnology at NTH) and Professor Arnljot Elgsæther (Institute for Physics, NTH). These men are working in conjunction with Dr. Gudmund Skjåk-Bræk (Institute for Biotechnology, NTH) and Professor Terje Espevik (Faculty of Medicine).

Insulin secreting islets in small alginic acid capsules. Such capsules may also contain various types of hormones and enzyme producing cells.

The alginate capsules containing the insulin producing cells are smaller than the head of a pin. The capsules are porous so that sugar in the body´s fluids can penetrate. The sugar induces the cells to produce insulin in amounts appropriate to the body´s needs. The insulin cells can survive several years inside the capsules. Even the transplantation process is quite simple. The capsules are injected into the abdominal cavity using a non-surgical procedure.

The essence of this "invention" is that the alginate consists of 100 percent natural material and stimulates the body´s immune system to a minimal extent. The alginate capsules can probably also be used in a similar manner with other hormone producing cells or enzymes, for example, in treating Parkinson´s disease or various liver diseases. Research teams, among them one in the USA, have long been searching for an alginate with similar characteristics. It now seems that NOBIPOL, the Institute for Cancer Research and Protan Biopolymer A/S have won this race.

Most diabetics are dependent on regular, artificial supplies of insulin. The most prevalent method of providing the necessary supply is via an injection under the skin. Therefore, many diabetics must constantly have insulin and clean needles available.

Among other things, the new insulin capsules will make such painstaking methods of supply unnecessary. Diabetes engenders a series of complications such as kidney failure, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels in the blood with the concomitant risk of cardio- vascular disease. A regular supply of insulin via transplanted cells in alginate capsules can also contribute to easing these afflictions.