Capillary blood pressure in the endocrine and exocrine parenchyma of rat pancreas transplants

Background. Transplantation of isolated organs or cells leads to a function al denervation of the organ, which may cause a hyperperfusion of blood. The current study evaluated to what extend blood perfusion and capillary blood pressures were affected in the transplanted rat pancreas. Methods. Inbred, male Wistar-Furth rats underwent transplantation with a sy ngeneic pancreaticoduodenal graft. Four weeks later, blood flow to the nati ve and transplanted pancreases was measured with a microsphere technique. C apillary pressures were measured by direct micropuncture technique. Results. An increased islet blood flow was consistently observed in the tra nsplanted pancreas as compared with the native organ, while who;le pancreat ic and duodenal blood flow was similar in the native and transplanted organ s. The capillar pressure was twice as high in the exocrine pancreas (6-7 mm Hg) of both the native and transplanted glands when compared with that of the islets (approximately 3 mm Hg). There were no differences in the capill ary pressures in either the islets or exocrine gland when native and transp lanted pancreases were compared. Conclusions. We conclude that the transplanted whole pancreas retains a low islet capillar blood pressure after transplantation despite having a highe r islet blood perfusion.