Prevention of Diabetes in WBN/Kob Rats by Allogenic Bone Marrow Transplantation

Abstract

The effects of allogenic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) on diabetes mellitus were examined using WBN/Kob rats. WBN/Kob rats reconstituted with WBN/Kob bone marrow cells showed severe glucose intolerance. However, WBN/Kob rats (RT1^U) that had been lethally irradiated (8.0 Gy) and then reconstituted with bone marrow cells from normal LETO rats (RT1^U) or WF rats (RT1^U) showed decreases in serum glucose and increases in serum insulin during an oral glcose tolerance test 5 months after BMT. Pathohistologically, fibrotic change in the pancreas and islet deformity were greatly suppressed in WBN/Kob rats reconstituted with LETO or WF bone marrow cells. Assessment of T cell subsets revealed that the W3/13 (pan T) and W3/25 (Th)/OX8 (Tnon-h) ratios in WBN/Kob rats reconstituted with LETO or WF bone marrow cells were significantly lower than in WBN/Kob rats reconstituted with WBN/Kob bone marrow cells. OX33 (B) in WBN/Kob rats reconstituted with LETO or WF bone marrow cells was significantly higher than in WBN/Kob rats reconstituted with WBN/Kob bone marrow cells. These findings suggent that a stem cell disorder might be involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes in this rat strain.