Nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice aged 30 days were orally treated with Cyclosporin (Cs) at a dose of 25 mg/kg every other day until they were 160 days old. Then 60 day-old mice were treated with Cs at doses of 15 and 2.5 mg/kg every other day until they were 160 days old.
Diabetes developed in 7 of 10 untreated contol mice in the first experiment and 5 of 8 control mice in the second experiment with partial to complete destruction of the islets of Langerhans associated with marked lymphocytic infiltration. The plasma glucose level in control NOD mice gradually increased by the time they were 130 days old and reached 254. 4 ± 93.8 mg/dl (mean±SD) in the first experiment and 335.3± 179. 4 mg/dl (mean ± SD) in the second experiment at 160 days of age, whille Cs-treated NOD mice at any dose showed neither a clear increase in the plasma glucose level nor development of insulitis.
These results suggest that Cs has a preventive effect against diabetes in NOD mice.
