Porcine models have been used in research for decades due to their anatomical and physiological similarities to humans. Furthermore, pigs are, like humans, omnivorous. For these reasons, pigs have been broadly used in research areas such as diabetes, obesity and islet transplantation (Minali-Nejad et al. 2014; Vodicka et al. 2005).
Islet cell transplantation has long been considered a potential cure for type 1 diabetes. The shortage of human donors and difficulty in isolating purified islets from adult human pancreata has drawn attention to the use of porcine islets. Pig and human insulin are structurally similar, and the regulation of insulin secretion in pigs resembles that of humans. Thus, pigs have not only served as an important translational model for diabetes but porcine islets are also used in xenotransplantation studies. To investigate the viability of the transplanted islets, parameters such as insulin and c-peptide are measured (Bogdani et al. 2005; Dufrane et al. 2006; Groth et al. 2000; Klymiuk et al. 2012; Korsgren et al. 1991). Moreover, the Mercodia Porcine C-peptide ELISA is an assay optimized specifically for porcine C-peptide without cross-reactivity to proinsulin or insulin. There is also no cross-reactivity to C- peptide in human, macaque, rat or mouse samples, which makes it possible to distinguish porcine C-peptide produced by transplanted islets from exogenously administered insulin in serum or plasma samples.