Abstract
Nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice aged 30 to 60 days were orally treated with cyclosporin (Cs) at doses of 25, 15 and 2.5 mg/kg every other day until 160 days of age. Diabetes developed in 12 out of 18 non-treated mice with partial to complete Langerhans' islet destruction associated with remarkable lymphocytic infiltration. NOD mice showed plasma glucose concentration of 140.4±25.2 mg/dl (mean±SD) at 30 days of age. Plasma glucose level of non-treated mice gradually increased therafter to reach 290.3±140.1 mg/dl at 160 days of age, while Cs-treated mice showed neither clear increment of plasma glucose level non development of insulitis.
Subsequently an additional adoptive transfer of spleen cells from Cs-treated mice abrogated the acceleration of development of insulitis observed in young NOD mice aged 30 days which received spleen cells alone from old NOD mice with acute diabetes.
These results suggest that Cs has preventive effect for diabetes in NOD mice and suppressor T cells play a role in mechanisms of the preventive effect.
