Isolation and characterization of stem cells from pancreatic islet: pluripotency, differentiation potential and ultrastructural characteristics

The immunocytochemical identification of both PI SC and BM MSC was demonstrated to be typical MSC. Without stimulation of differentiation markers of adipogenic, chondrogenic, neurogenic, myogenic and osteogenic cells in these SC, the expression of those markers might explain their multilineage differentiation potential. We suggest that, by reason of the respectively high telomerase activity in PI SC, they could be better candidates than BM MSC for cell replacement therapy of type 1 diabetes.