Abstract #1623

Roman B, Oberholzer J, Honeychuck R, Haque M, Serai S, Leoni L

Lack of an accurate assessment of functional pancreatic -cells mass is an obstacle for islet transplantation as a treatment for diabetes. A pancreatic islet is an island of cells, sizing from 100 m to 500 m containing approximately one to two million insulin producing -cells. Non-invasive diffusion weighted contrast was used to assess islet functionality and viability. Islet viability was confirmed by Trypan blue staining before and after imaging. We used in-vitro MR- microscopy to measure the diffusion coefficients of human islets under various conditions and optimized the diffusion weighted contrast. Diffusion coefficients demonstrated sensitivity to islet function and viability.